Ram Gopal Varma's Surprising Admission: How Bruce Lee's Return of the Dragon Inspired Shiva

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has opened up about the inspiration behind his 1989 film Shiva, starring Nagarjuna. In a recent press conference, RGV revealed that he drew heavily from Bruce Lee's 1972 classic Return of the Dragon. The director explained that he was a huge fan of Bruce Lee and remembered watching Return of the Dragon 50 times before transforming it into Shiva. He replaced the restaurant setting of the Bruce Lee film with a college backdrop, combining his own college experiences into the plot. Shiva, which was considered ahead of its time, explored themes of violence and campus politics. The film's protagonist, Nagarjuna, plays a student who stands up against the students' union president and gangsters. Meanwhile, Return of the Dragon, released in Chinese as The Way of the Dragon, follows a similar plot of fighting against a syndicate that's threatening a family's business. RGV's surprising admission has left fans both thrilled and shocked, with some praising the director's ability to 'steal' ideas and make them feel like invention.