Fact Check: When Dragon became Brahmastra and Rumi was renamed as Shiva

New Delhi, Sep 03: Amidst a massive boycott campaign, director Ayan Mukerji is set to release Brahmastra: Part One on September 9.

Now a claim has gone viral stating that the film was originally named Dragon and after the Pulwama attack on February 14 2019 the producers decided to rename it Brahmastra. It is also being said that the protagonist was renamed to Shiv from Rumi to reach out to a wider audience.

While OneIndia found that the name of the movie was indeed changed from Dragon to Brahmastra, the title was however announced two years before the Pulwama attack. The movie's producer Karan Johar had tweeted on October 11 2017 and announced the film titled Brahmastra.

We found a news report stating that the film was originally named Dragon, but later on the makers decided to change it to Brahmastra.

We also found an Instagram post by Ayan explaining the change in name from Rumi to Shiva. He wrote, first he was Rumi. Rumi with long hair. This image is from an early look test for the movie. Rumi said, 'Love is the bridge between you and everything...', and that feeling is the foundation we started building the protagonist of this movie on... But then, there was new inspiration, newer thoughts... Dragon became Brahmāstra, we gave Ranbir a haircut, and Rumi became... Shiva.

"When 'Dragon' was the title of the film, that time, we had not thought about it. Shiva, in the film, has the power of fire, so I wrote the name 'Dragon' in the script. But the film was always rooted and inspired by Indian culture and history. So when the time came to give the title, Brahmastra was always the right title for the film," Ayan had told reporters according to this report.

So it is clear that the film initially titled Dragon was changed to Brahmastra and it was not due to the Pulwama attack.