Despite Chiranjeevi’s cameo, which is his appearance on screen after six years, Ram Charan’s bilingual flick Bruce Lee has been having a lackluster run at the box office. Luckily for the makers, the upcoming Dasara holidays might still draw in the crowds at Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Meanwhile, here are some of the reasons being cited for Bruce Lee’s poor show.
An insult to Bruce Lee
Many strongly feel the film should not have been titled Bruce Lee. There’s nothing in the film that connects it to the martial arts icon and film star, so why use his name? Even filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma tweeted that he had to watch Bruce Lee’s iconic film Enter The Dragon after watching Charan’s film to get over the hangover. Bruce Lee fans are pretty upset with the makers of this film taking their idol’s name in vain.
Chiranjeevi had upset the fans
Sources also say that three people are responsible for the film’s poor collections — Chiranjeevi himself, his brother Nagababu and director Srinu Vaitla.
Nagababu had severely criticised fans of Pawan Kalyan, actor and younger brother of Chiru at a function organised for the latter’s 60th birthday as they were shouting Pawan’s name at the function. To take revenge, his fans boycotted Bruce Lee, say sources. Chiranjeevi too angered fans when a video of his calling fans ‘stupid’ went viral recently and hurt their sentiments.
The third reason is director Srinu Vaitla, whose earlier film starring Mahesh Babu was a disaster. While many are not saying this aloud, the film’s weak script too could be a huge factor.
Ram Charan, meanwhile, says that he is pleased with the film’s response. “It is an out-and-out action film. The audiences love to see me fight on screen. We worked really hard on the stunts. I don’t think the action in any of my films so far has been so evolved. That’s why I named the film after the ultimate action hero,” says the actor.
“I am a Bruce Lee fan. I may be my fans’ hero, but even heroes have their heroes. And mine is Bruce Lee. I also play his fan in the film — my character even has his name tattooed on his arm. So it made sense to name the film after the actor,” he justifies.
When told that many felt that Chiranjeevi’s cameo too looked a bit forced, Charan says, “I knew his fans would love to see us together. And they did. When he comes on screen post-interval, the audiences go wild.”
And now Charan is all set to reciprocate his dad’s gesture. “He magnanimously agreed to be part of my film. Now, I’ll play a cameo in the film that I’ll produce for him.” He is also looking for a change of image. “Though I’ve done an intense love story in the past called Orange, I am doing one again, this time, with director Gautham Menon. I want audiences to see me in different avatars.”
