Puri Jagannadh seeks police protection after threats from distributors post Liger debacle

Filmmaker Puri Jagannadh has sought police protection after he allegedly received threats from film distributors, who are planning to protest in front of his house in Hyderabad, if he doesn’t settle losses of his last release, Liger. In his police complaint, Puri has mentioned that the distributors cannot threaten or blackmail him in any manner and should have filed a civil case if they felt he or his firm owes them any amount

Puri Jagannadh, who currently resides in Mumbai, had directed Liger, featuring Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday. The film, which was simultaneously released in August in Hindi and Telugu, turned out to be a box office failure.In his police complaint, Puri revealed that as per agreement he had paid all his dues to distributor Warangal Sreenu. He added that Sreenu had defaulted payments to the sub-distributors, who are now being coerced by Sreenu to believe that Puri owes them money. In his statement, Puri further added that he fears that Sreenu will instigate violence and enter his house in Hyderabad and harass his family members, which include his 85-year-old mother-in-law, along with the director's wife and daughter.

The film was announced in 2019, and the title Liger was announced in January 2021. Liger marks the debut of Deverakonda in Hindi cinema and Panday in Telugu cinema. The songs are composed by Tanishk Bagchi and Vikram Montrose. Principal photography began in January 2020 and suffered production delays after March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming resumed in February 2021 and after some other shooting suspensions in the pandemic, Liger was wrapped up in February 2022.