Fighting spirit

Three fans celebrate the legacy of Bruce Lee on the iconic action star’s 81st birth anniversary

Mirroring the past

Viraag Desai, 35, artist
I remember watching the classic mirror scene from Enter the Dragon when I was less than 10 years old. His movies had this bite-sized quality where you went from one fight to the other without the storyline mattering that much. That’s not true of The Way of the Dragon, though, which had a lot more restraint and brought in the politics of Japanese occupation. The movie had this John Wick-like appeal about an assassin who doesn’t want to fight anymore. There’s also a film called Ip Man that is based on the person who trained Bruce Lee.

All about finesse

Andrew Lu, 38, tech writer
You must remember my Chinese origins when we talk about Bruce Lee. He was the first person from the region who kicked the white man in the backside, after years of humiliation. He brought in a certain sense of finesse to fighting, and the concept of jeet kune do [a martial arts form that Lee invented] has filtered down to modern MMA [Mixed Martial Arts]. My favourite films of his are Game of Death, Fist of Fury and, of course, Enter the Dragon. There’s also a show on him on Disney Hotstar, The Warrior, produced by his daughter.  

Dual existence

Arhan Sett, 36, photographer
When you think of Bruce Lee, you think of this small, incredibly powerful man with calm, controlled aggression. He always had this Zen-like quality, where he combined violence with stillness. I grew up in a Jain household where non-violence was highly stressed upon, and I really liked his duality of being both calm and violent at the same time. I guess I have watched more documentaries on him than his actual films. There are lots of fan-made ones on YouTube and one called Dragon: The Bruce Lee story. There is also an obvious reference to him in Kill Bill, since the bride’s jumpsuit is modelled on his outfit.

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