Movie: Bruce Lee – The Fighter
Direction: Srinu Vaitla
Cast: Ram Charan, Rakul Preet Singh, Kriti Kharbanda, Arun Vijay, Brahmanandam
Music Director: S. Thaman
Cinematography: Manoj Paramahamsa
Editor: M. R. Varma
Genre: Action
Rating: ∗∗∗
What is it about: This flick is yet another commercial potboiler which runs the same mill as before. Director Srinu Vaitla has done nothing different, but gave a newer outfit to the repeated script. Bruce Lee (Ram Charan), during his childhood gives up his studies for his sister Kavya (Kriti Kharbanda) as she aspires to become a “Collector” when she grows up. The reason being middle class family and can afford only one child going to a decent school. This repeats in all aspects in their life which Bruce Lee continues to fulfil sister’s wishes. He grows up to be a stunt double in film industry, who later bumps in to a beautiful lass Riya (Rakul Preet Singh), who mistakes him for a police officer. Ram Charan tries to come clean with Rakul Preet with his real profession, but couldn’t due to obvious reasons. This fake profession takes Bruce Lee to a point which gets tangles in to series of unfortunate events which forms the crux of the story.
Why it’s disappointing: The director doesn’t have anything new to offer, but Telugu film industry is tuned for clichéd plots and enjoy the masala with no regrets. There are too many characters which fails to establish them in order, as new characters keep coming even in the second half. The climax gets little tiresome which really extends beyond a limit testing your patience.
What to watch out for: Srinu Vaitla does presents you a clichéd movie, but packs it with essential ingredients for a commercial cinema. It had everything one needed.
The lead character Bruce Lee (Ram Charan) throws a strong fit of a performance which entertains you as he fights, dances and emotes. This dude can really dance and when the songs come up, you can see an altogether different personality. He was well paired with Rakul Preet Singh, who charms at the very first glance, she is darn cute and beautiful. With flawless beauty she can act well too, her comedy timing was good and lip sync was perfect. This was perfectly matched by Kriti Kharbanda (Kavya) who portrays a perfect girl next door with impeccable beauty.
We got to see the well acclaimed villainous character from Tamil cinema “Victor” donning a role in Bruce Lee as Deepak Raj, Arun Vijay may have a small screen space but did a good job.
They were well supported by Brahmanandam, Sampath, Nadhiya, Tisca Chopra, Jaya Prakash Reddy and Rao Ramesh.
The music by Thaman was really good with foot tapping numbers which were beautifully choreographed and pictured. The costumes of Rakul Preet were well designed and gave an upbeat look.
The cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa was racy and vivid with spectacular colours. The movie runs for 2hrs 50 mins, but it does not seem that long as MR Varma did a neat job in editing it. The action was superb as it had to live up to the title, which was well done by Kecha Khamphakdee.
There’s a surprise towards the end of long climax which makes it worthy, people who know it already its fine, but who don’t catch it on the big screen as it made the people in cinema hall go nuts with whistles and applause.
Verdict: Srinu Vaitla dishes out yet another commercial pot-boiler which satisfies the masses and keeps you entertained regardless of the illogical nonsense. The lead cast makes it a worthwhile with their exuberant charm, which makes you ignore the potholes, thus a total entertainer.
