Wikipedia

Bruce Lee (2017 film)

Bruce Lee is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film written and directed by Prasanth Pandiraj, starring G. V. Prakash Kumar and Kriti Kharbanda in the leading roles, while Bala Saravanan, Ramdoss, Rajendran, Mansoor Ali Khan, and Anandaraj play supporting roles. The film was produced by Kenaya Films. The music was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar with cinematography by P. V. Shankar.

Bruce Lee
Theatrical release poster
Tamilபுரூஸ் லீ
Directed byPrashanth Pandiraj
Written byPrasanth Pandiraj
Produced by
  • J. Selvakumar
  • P. Ravichandran
  • G. Vittal Kumar
StarringG. V. Prakash Kumar
Kriti Kharbanda
Bala Saravanan
Ramdoss
Rajendran
Mansoor Ali Khan
Anandaraj
CinematographyP. V. Shankar
Edited by
Music byG. V. Prakash Kumar
Production
companies
Distributed byLinga Bhairavi Creations
Release date
  • March 17, 2017 (2017-03-17) (India)
Running time
125 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTamil

The film began production during July 2015 and was released on 17 March 2017.[1]

Plot

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Bruce Lee and his friend Abbas are good-for-nothing guys. An evil don named Ramdoss has a gang which assaults people with acid. Bruce Lee is in love with Saroja Devi Suprajit, a college student. Once, Ramdoss kills Minister Mansoor Ali Khan, and a photo of the killing is taken by Bruce Lee accidentally. With fear, Saroja Devi decides to give it to Mansoor's son but discovers that his son is involved in the killing, so she decides to give the evidence to her uncle, who is a lawyer. Unfortunately, her uncle also defends Ramdoss, and the commissioner asks Ramdoss to find who is shooting them. The next day, the girls are kidnapped by Ramdoss, and he demands the camera from Bruce Lee. Whether or not Bruce Lee saves Saroja forms the crux of the story.

Cast

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Production

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The project was first announced in June 2015, when G. V. Prakash Kumar had agreed to work with Prashanth Pandiraj on an action comedy film to be produced by Kenanya Films.[2] The title of the film was changed in July 2015 from Baasha Engira Anthony to Bruce Lee, after the makers failed to acquire the relevant permission to use the title from the makers of Baashha (1995).[3][4] During October 2015, the film had a brief legal tussle with the makers of the Telugu film of the same, Bruce Lee - The Fighter (2015), after they dubbed and released their film in Tamil as Bruce Lee 2. The team of the Tamil production, Bruce Lee, were unable to prevent the release of the Telugu version or its dubbed Tamil version.[5]

Samantha and then Trisha were approached to play the leading female role, but their unavailability meant that Kriti Kharbanda, who also appeared in the Telugu Bruce Lee - The Fighter (2015), was signed on to make her debut in Tamil films.[6][7] The team held a photoshoot in October 2015, with Kriti revealing that her and Prakash would portray college students.[8][9] Production subsequently began later that month, with the makers targeting a release date in early 2016.[10] Despite finishing the shoot in early 2016, the film was delayed to allow several of G. V. Prakash Kumar's other films have a theatrical release first.[11]

Soundtrack

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Bruce Lee
Soundtrack album by
G. V. Prakash Kumar
Released20 October 2016
GenreFeature film soundtrack
LanguageTamil
LabelLahari Music
ProducerG.V. Prakash Kumar
G. V. Prakash Kumar chronology
Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai
(2016) 		Bruce Lee
(2016) 		Half Ticket
(2016)

G. V. Prakash Kumar composed the songs, Arunraja Kamaraj, Mani kandan, Vairachandran, Gana Vinoth wrote the lyrics. Lahari Music released the album on 20 October 2016.

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsArtist(s)Length
1."Naan Thaan Goppan Da"Arunraja KamarajArunraja Kamaraj02:42
2."Sugar Mint-u Kari"Mani KandanG. V. Prakash Kumar, M. M. Manasi04:49
3."Sumar Moonji Kumaru"Gana VinothSilambarasan03:48

Release

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Following multiple delays, Bruce Lee had a theatrical release on 17 March 2017. The satellite rights of the film were sold to Zee Tamil.[12]

Critical reception

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The film was panned by the critics as well as audiences and ended up becoming a disaster at the box office.[13][14][15] Vishal Menon of The Hindu wrote "you need a wicked sense of comedy and great actors to pull off this kind of screwball material, but, sadly, there’s not a single funny moment", while Thinkal Menon of The Times of India wrote "if spirits could watch films, the spirit of real Bruce Lee will turn into Kanchana and Chandramukhi after watching this absurd film".[16][17] A reviewer from FirsPost stated "GV Prakash’s Bruce Lee would make the late legend turn in his grave" and that "the film, which was touted as a black comedy, is amateurish and has neither a story nor style".[18] Further negative reviews were given to the film by The New Indian Express who stated it was a "comedy gone awry", while Sify.com noted that director "Prashanth Pandiraj has a half-cooked script that doesn’t know where to go after setting up its delicious premise".[19][20] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion wrote "Bruce Lee is supposed to be a comedy. The key word supposed. It’s actually a tale of revenge."[21]

References

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  1. ^ "Bruce Lee, Kattappava Kanom: This Friday, 7 Tamil films vying for screen space!". 15 March 2017. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  2. ^ "G.V.Prakash's in another film with Rajini connection". IndiaGlitz. 26 June 2015. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  3. ^ "GV's Baasha Engira Antony is now Bruce Lee". The Times of India. 28 July 2015. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  4. ^ "GV's Baasha Engira Antony to go for a title change". The Times of India. 16 July 2015. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  5. ^ "GV Prakash to release his Bruce Lee as Bruce Lee 2 in Telugu". Gulte.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  6. ^ "Kriti Kharbanda replaces Nayan for G V Prakash's movie". Bangalore Mirror. 24 September 2015. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  7. ^ "GV Prakash's next film Bruce Lee will have Kriti Kharbanda as his heroine". Behindwoods. 25 September 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  8. ^ M, Ramakrishnan (18 March 2017). "Drama Queen". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2020 – via www.thehindu.com.
  9. ^ "What did GV Prakash call Kriti Kharbanda?". The Times of India. 20 October 2015. Archived from the original on 18 September 2023. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  10. ^ "Music composer turned hero G V Prakash begins his next film Bruce Lee". Behindwoods. 12 October 2015. Archived from the original on 14 November 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  11. ^ "GV Prakash: 'Bruce Lee is like a Guy Ritchie film with its dark humour'". Firstpost. 16 March 2017. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  12. ^ "பிரகாஷ் அவர்களின் அதிரடியான நடிப்பில் BruceLee". twitter.com/ZeeTamil. 28 September 2017. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  13. ^ Mandal, Manisha (17 March 2017). "Bruce Lee honest movie review: G.V. Prakash Kumar and Kriti Kharbanda's film fails to impress the critics!". India News, Breaking News, Entertainment News | India.com. Archived from the original on 4 May 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  14. ^ "Too many films flood the market, better planning needed". dtNext.in. 25 March 2017. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017.
  15. ^ "GV Prakash to experiment with 'Ayngaran' and 'Naachiyar'". Sify. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017.
  16. ^ Menon, Vishal (17 March 2017). "Bruce Lee: a zero's journey". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020 – via www.thehindu.com.
  17. ^ "Bruce Lee Movie Review {1.5/5}: Let's just hope no one gets inspired by this film and makes movies titled Jackie Chan, Tiger Chen or Tony Jaa". The Times of India.
  18. ^ "Bruce Lee movie review: This GV Prakash film will make the action legend turn in his grave". Firstpost. 17 March 2017. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  19. ^ "Bruce Lee review: Black comedy gone awry". Sify. Archived from the original on 18 March 2017.
  20. ^ "Review: Bruce Lee". The New Indian Express. 17 March 2017. Archived from the original on 21 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  21. ^ Rangan, Baradwaj (17 March 2017). "Bruce Lee Movie Review". Archived from the original on 20 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
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