Bruce Lee: The Fighter is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language action comedy film directed by Sreenu Vaitla and produced by D. V. V. Danayya under DVV Entertainments. The film stars Ram Charan, alongside Arun Vijay, Rakul Preet Singh, Kriti Kharbanda, Sampath Raj and Nadhiya. The music was composed by S. Thaman, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Manoj Paramahamsa and M. R. Varma. In the film, Karthik, a stuntman, is mistaken for a cop, where he helps to unearth the schemes of Deepak Raj, a drug peddler and his father Jayaraj.
Srinu Vaitla narrated the script to Charan in March 2014, and planned to work on the story post the release of Aagadu. The film was launched on 5 March 2015, and the principal photography of the film took place on 16 March 2015, which was started on 6 October 2014. Filmed across Hyderabad, Spain and Bangkok, The film was shot in 110 working days with 15 working hours per day.
Bruce Lee: The Fighter was released on 16 October 2015, during the festival of Navaratri, to negative reviews from critics and became a box-office bomb. One of the sub-plots of the film where Karthik (Ram Charan) is mistaken for a cop by Ria (Rakul Preet Singh) was reportedly inspired from the 2006 French film The Valet. The film was remade in Bangladesh as Beporowa and remains Kriti Kharbanda's last Telugu film till date.
Plot Karthik and Kavya are the children of Rama Chandra Rao. Rama Chandra Rao wants to make Karthik as an IAS officer. The only problem is that Kavya wants to become a collector as well, but Rama Chandra Rao cannot afford to pay for both of their studies. Because of this, Karthik sacrifices his exams so that his sister can join Delhi Public School in order to become a collector.
Years later, Karthik aka Bruce Lee is a stunt performer working under Dangerous David, and Kavya is studying for CSE Exam. Once, Karthik goes in the middle of a shoot to a hotel to save his friend's sister, who was being kidnapped. Ria is a game designer, who came there to meet a cop for marriage sees Karthik in his police costume and mistakes him for a cop. She becomes his fan and rejects the other cop, as he is corrupt.
Some days later, Karthik finds out that Ria uploaded the video of him fighting in a police costume on Facebook. When he goes to meet her, he falls for her and finds out that she is designing a video game called Super Cop based on him. From then on, Ria spends time with him continuously, while Karthik is still afraid of revealing his identity as he fears that she might leave him. Meanwhile, a terrorist attack occurs in a hotel where Karthik's cousin brother Ravi finds evidence to prove that it was not a terrorist attack but an attempt to kill two IB officers by a drug peddler named Deepak Raj.
Ravi goes to Commissioner Marthand, but Marthand is actually in cahoots with Deepak, who knocks Ravi unconscious. Ria keeps getting Karthik into fights thinking that he is an undercover cop. Kavya writes her final exams needed and while she is returning, Deepak drugs her forcefully and arrests her to trick Ram Gopal to think that the kidnapped girl was his daughter. Karthik learns of the incident and thrashes up Deepak, sending him into a coma and returns in time for Kavya's engagement with Rahul, the son of Jayaraj and Vasundhara who are bosses of Rama Chandra Rao.
It is revealed that Deepak is the first son of Jayaraj with an unofficial wife, Malini. Later, Ria takes Karthik to meet her family and father is IB Chief Bharadwaj, who knows Karthik's identity and reveals Jayaraj's background to Karthik where they start a mission to bust and capture Jayaraj and Deepak. Following the plan, he joins Jayaraj's company as his assistant and uses Suzuki Subramanyam, an undercover cop, to reveal Jayaraj's secrets to Vasundhara, causing her to leave him. During Kavya's marriage, Karthik and Bharadwaj gathers evidence against Jayaraj-Deepak with Ravi's help (who was rescued by the officials).
Karthik reveals to Ria about his real identity, who forgives him and they reunite. Meanwhile, Deepak captures and shoots Karthik and orders their henchmen to pack him in a plastic bag and drop him on a nearby canal. His henchman carries out his order. Later, Jayaraj, with his men, tries to kill Vasundhara, Rahul and Kavya. Karthik arrives and reveals that he was aware of all of Deepak's plans, Because they had replaced G. Ramji, a corrupt inspector who is David's lookalike with David himself. Karthik was actually wearing a bulletproof vest and blood bombs in the shirt.
Deepak's shots caused the bombs to burst and also had escaped from the plastic bag. In the ensuring fight, Karthik kills Deepak and takes his body to Jayaraj, revealing his identity. Driven by vengeance, Jayaraj kidnaps Ria and stabs Rama Chandra Rao in front of him after he tells all about Karthik's sacrifices for his family. Karthik admits Ramachandra to the hospital and calls actor Chiranjeevi for help, who is busy filming Khaidi No. 150. Chiranjeevi arrives and thrashes up the goons and saves Ria. In the meantime, Suzuki arrests Jayaraj, finishing his last mission before he retires. During a celebration, Ria asks Karthik to fill up a form and become an actual police officer, to which everyone starts laughing.
Cast
Production
Development Sreenu Vaitla narrated a storyline to Ram Charan in late March 2014 and post the latter's approval, Vaitla planned to start work on the film's script after completing Aagadu (2014). D. V. V. Danayya, who produced Ram Charan's Naayak (2013), announced in late July 2014 that he would produce this film under the banner Universal Media and the pre-production works would begin soon. The production was expected to start in November 2014. The film was shelved post the release of Aagadu and was revived in late October 2014. After returning from a holiday in Kerala, Charan gave his nod in early December 2014 and Vaitla was busy giving final touches to the script which was said to be a fast-paced action comedy.
Charan informed the media that the film's production would commence in February 2015. My Name is Raju, a phrase picked up from the popular song of Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari (1990) starring Chiranjeevi and Sridevi, was considered as the film's title. The makers announced that the film would be a family drama and would be bankrolled by Danayya under his new banner DVV Entertainments. The film was launched officially on 5 March 2015 at Danayya's office in Hyderabad. The film was said to have been inspired from the plot of the Telugu film Vijetha (1985). The makers contemplated to title the film as Bruce Lee in mid May 2015 considering the protagonist's character being a stuntman acting as a body double for actors, which was confirmed in late August 2015.
Casting
Post the release of 1: Nenokkadine (2014) and before the release of Lingaa (2014), its female leads Kriti Sanon and Sonakshi Sinha were rumored to sign this film as the female leads. Shruti Haasan was approached in late July 2014 to play the female lead. Her inclusion was almost confirmed, considering her previous collaboration with Charan in Yevadu (2014). Both D. V. V. Danayya and Ram Charan reportedly insisted Vaitla to cast Prakash Raj in a crucial role with whom Vaitla had differences in the past. A source from the film's unit told Indo-Asian News Service on 1 January 2015 that Samantha Ruth Prabhu was finalised as one of the female leads and the second female lead was yet to be decided.
Vaitla was reported to abstain from casting Brahmanandam in this film making it his fourth film not featuring Brahmanandam after Nee Kosam (1999), Sontham (2002) and Anandamanandamaye (2004). Gopimohan later confirmed Brahmanandam's inclusion in the film adding that the character written for him would be one of the highlights of the film. Vaitla reportedly wanted to re-shoot Brahmanandam's scenes with N. Santhanam for the Tamil dubbed version similar to the act of S. S. Rajamouli for the casting of Eega (2012) as Chiranjeevi suggested to replace Brahmanandam with Santhanam.
Samantha was replaced by Rakul Preet Singh at the same time. While the lack of dates to accommodate was cited as one reason, budgetary reasons were cited as the other reason. Vaitla considered Ramya Krishnan, Tulasi and Jeevitha from Telugu cinema and also searched for yesteryear heroines in Tamil and Kannada cinema for the role of Charan's mother which was very crucial for the film's story. Kriti Kharbanda made a comeback to Telugu cinema with this film after the makers narrated her character sketch and the film's story. The second female lead was yet to be finalised. Nadhiya and Kashmera Shah were confirmed as a part of the film's cast in early June 2015. Impressed by his performance in Velaiilla Pattadhari (2014), the makers cast Amitash Pradhaan to play a supporting role marking his Telugu debut. Similarly, Tamil actor Arun Vijay was chosen to play the film's lead antagonist making his debut in Telugu after the makers were impressed with his performance in Yennai Arindhaal. Brahmaji inclusion in the film's cast was confirmed in late June 2015. Rao Ramesh confirmed his inclusion in the film's cast in early August 2015 before leaving for Bangkok for the film's shoot. Days later, Prudhviraj confirmed his inclusion in the film's cast. On 20 August 2015, Vaitla confirmed that Chiranjeevi would make a cameo appearance in the film. He added that Chiranjeevi would appear for fifteen minutes in the film. Tisca Chopra was signed to play a supporting role marking her debut in Telugu cinema.
Characters
Charan hired Priyanka Chopra's trainer Samir Jaura in mid-July 2014 to get into shape for this film by following an intensive training program designed by Jaura lasting for four-five months along with a strict diet. Jaura reached Hyderabad and accompanied Charan to the film sets where he worked out before or after the shoot of Govindudu Andarivadele (2014). Vaitla said in an interview that he wanted to put Charan's comic skills to the fore with this film, adding that the film would have a "good blend of humour and punch dialogues".
He was later confirmed to be seen as an action choreographer sporting a rugged look for which he had to shed weight by following a tough fitness regimen for four hours a day at his farmhouse in Bangalore. For further training, he left to Bangkok in mid April 2015 where he trained with Jaika stunt team. Action choreographer Kecha Khamphakdee supervised his training which consisted mainly of mixed martial arts. Videos showing Charan's kick boxing training sessions were released by Jaika Stunt team on 23 April 2015. He also began learning Karate for his role since mid May 2015. For the role, he sported a tattoo of Bruce Lee on his hand.
Kriti Kharbanda was signed in on to play Charan's sister in the film. Danayya said that her character would be an important one in the film. She said in an interview that she would play a courageous girl-next-door and added that she was asked by Vaitla to be herself and extremely talkative. Vaitla envisioned a middle aged woman running a manufacturing firm as Charan's mother in the film. Amitash Pradhan was signed to play a businessman. While Nadhiya plays his mother, Kriti would play his love interest. He added that his role would be a positive one, unlike his character in Velaiyilla Pattathari. Brahmaji would play the role of a lead actor sporting different attires throughout the film to whom Charan would be seen as a body double sporting the same attires. Arun Vijay called his character a powerful one and would sport a stylish look. Rao Ramesh played the role of Charan's father in the film. During the promotions of Kick 2 (2015), Rakul Preet Singh said that she would play the role of a graphic designer in this film. Chopra was signed to play the role of a "strong woman, a very wealthy and stylish one at that".
Crew