'Liger' my most challenging role: Vijay Deverakonda

Actor Vijay Deverakonda on Saturday said playing the role of a boxer in his upcoming film "Liger" was "mentally and physically" challenging.

The upcoming sports drama, directed by Puri Jagannath of Pokkiri fame, stars Deverakonda as an underdog from Mumbai who competes in an MMA championship.

The 33-year-old actor said "Liger" is a film "that took my everything".

"As a performance, Mentally, physically my most challenging role. I give you everything! Coming Soon #LIGER, he wrote on Twitter alongside his new poster from the film.

Deverakonda is best known for his work in coming-of age and romantic Telugu dramas like Life Is Beautiful, Arjun Reddy, and Dear Comrade .

For "Liger", he has collaborated with Bollywood actors Ananya Pandey, Ronit Roy and boxing legend Mike Tyson.

The upcoming film is produced by Jagannadh, Charmme Kaur, Karan Johar and Apoorva Mehta.

It will be released theatrically on August 25 in five languages -- Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.