What’s it about:
Karthi (Ram Charan) is a family man, who would do anything for the happiness of his sister Kavya ( Kriti Kharbanda). He is a stuntman by profession with a Bruce Lee tattoo on his arm, thus he is nicknamed as Bruce Lee. He meets a dumb yet cute journalist Ria ( Rakul Preet), who mistakes him for a cop. Ria falls in love with Bruce Lee without knowing his true identity.
Meanwhile, baddie Deepak Raj ( Arun Vijay), who is behind the mass killings at a 5 star hotel, threatens the head of enquiry committee by abducting and drugging random girls, subtlety telling him that his daughter would be next. One of the girls, who is drugged happens to be Bruce Lee’s sister, which leads to a fight between the villain and out hero. Soon, we find out that there is someone above Deepak Raj who is calling the shots. Now that Bruce Lee has irked the wrath of Deepak Raj and his godfather, will he manage to safeguard his family and unveil the big conspiracy behind the mass killings?
What’s good:
Director Sreenu Vaitla has a knack for comedy, which was evident even in Mahesh Babu’s Aagadu. Even in Bruce Lee, the comic scenes are one of the best parts of the film. Ram Charan performs well as the super hero, who dances, romances, fights and even cries for his family. The songs by SS Thaman are catchy and are one of the plus points of the film.
Rakul Preet does a great job as the naive journalist, who is completely smitten by Ram Charan’s cop avatar. Other than looking gorgeous, she also brings humour with her interesting characterisation. Brahmanandam manages to evoke a few laughter, without going overboard with his jokes. Ali’s small role aping Aamir Khan’s PK is nicely done.
Kriti Kharbanda does a decent job as Ram Charan’s sister where as Sampath Raj has finally broken the mould of the brooding baddie. He is a villain in this film too, but his character is different from the kind of roles he usually does which is refreshing. Last but not the least, Chiranjeevi’s cameo at the end is worth the wait. Even though, the way his cahracter is introduced in the film is silly, Chiranjeevi‘s charm takes care of the rest as the cinema hall bursts into whistles and hoots.
What’s bad:
Lets start with the smaller flaws in the film. The editing of Bruce Lee leaves a lot to be desired as not just the film’s length but even the way the scenes start after songs end are jarringly abrupt. Ram Charan plays a stunt man in the film, so I expected at least a few innovative fighting scenes but alas it is the same old hero bashing 20 goons at a time with his bare knuckles. You tend to get bored when you see that there is absolutely no one to threaten our hero in battle field. There is no fun in watching Ram Charan bashing baddies as he is out on a stroll in a park. Arun Vijay showed that he is a brilliant actor in Ajith’s Yennai Arindhaal.
But sadly, he is terribly under utilised and is reduced as mere caricature in the film. The sentiment scenes between Ram Charan and his family are superficial as they fail to evoke the desired emotion from the audience. Though songs are good, they are badly placed and the costumes used in few dance numbers are outrageous. Direction by Sreenu Vaitla lacks the authority as he fails to leave his stamp in the film, making it look like just another masala film.
Now coming to the biggest flaw, Bruce Lee is let down by its cliche ridden script. Even the twists are so predictable that you pray that your guesses don’t turn out to be true. The film follows the set template of any commercial flick and it plays out like this – happy family, emotional drama, hero intro song, mind numbing action, hero-heroine cliched love story, more family sentiments, villain introductions, plot twists, hero villain face offs, long drawn second half with comedy and more twists, action scenes that defy gravity, rustic folk dance number, villain’s evil plans, hero’s defiance of those plans, happily ever after ending. I am sorry to say but I have seen too many Telugu films which strive on this beaten to death wafer thin story line.