Ayan Mukerji’s film Brahmastra, which was in the making for seven years, is finally ready for release. It is a fantasy fiction film based on Hindi mythology. The film’s lead character is named Shiva, played by Ranbir Kapoor. But did you know that Ranbir’s character in the film wasn’t a Hindu in the early stages of the film? Well, initially, Ranbir was supposed to play an Islamic character as the lead.
A few years ago, Ayan Mukerji revealed the look of Ranbir from their film Brahmastra. Ranbir had long hair and was supposed to play Rumi. His character was inspired by Islamic poet and scholar Jalal al-Din Muḥammad Rumi.
Ayan told, “Rumi. 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.”
Ayan Mukerji’s Instagram post from years ago is now going viral on Twitter. Fans are upset that even though the film is based on Hindu mythology, their songs and dialogues take inspiration from the Arabic language. Check out a few tweets:
An angry Twitter user wrote, “Initially, #Brahmastra was Dragon, “big beef-guy” #RanbirKapoor was Jalaluddin Mohd Rumi. In aftermath of Pulwama, Rumi became Shiva, @aliaa08 became Parvati, Dragon became Brahmastra. Yet dialogues of Hussain Dalal and songs retain Urdu, Sufiyana, Fanaa, Qismat Ka Sikandar, Rabba.”
Several other netizens have also called out this film.
People are also bashing Ranbir Kapoor for playing Shiva in the film while he once admitted that he eats beef. While promoting Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar, Ranbir talked about his love for food and revealed that he likes beef.
#BoycottBrahmastra has been trending on Twitter for the last few days. The film will hit the theatres on 9 September 2022. It stars Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Mouni Roy and Nagarjuna. It is the first film of a trilogy.
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