Ajay Devgn reveals why Runway 34’s title was changed from MayDay: ‘People didn’t have an understanding…’
The title of Ajay Devgn’s upcoming film Runway 34 was earlier MayDay. In a recent interaction, the actor-director opened up about the reason they decided to change it.
Ajay Devgn‘s directorial Runway 34 is all set for release. The film stars Ajay himself along with Amitabh Bachchan and Rakul Preet Singh. However, when the project was initially conceptualised and shot, it was titled MayDay. The title was changed once the film’s post-production began. In a recent interview, Ajay opened up on what made him and his team opt for the change. Also read: Runway 34 trailer: Ajay Devgn plays an arrogant pilot, Amitabh Bachchan will set him straight with heavy dialoguebaazi
Runway 34 is about a plane not being allowed to land at the airport due to bad weather. Ajay and Rakul play the aircraft’s pilots while Amitabh is the officer investigating the incident later. MayDay is an emergency procedure word used in navigation and aviation as a distress signal, which is why it was selected as the film’s title, to denote the sense of emergency. However, Ajay said he later discovered people had no knowledge of this.
Speaking to ETimes, he said, “Well, it was a funny case. People didn’t have an understanding of the title, and the impromptu landing. We thought during the promotion, it would be clear. However, one fine day, a very, very educated senior man asked if it was about Labour Day or something? That’s when I felt the need to change the title of the film.”
Eventually, the team settled on Runway 34 as the title. Ajay explained that this was because that particular runway is pivotal to the plot. “Runway 34 fitted perfectly, because when you see the film the whole story revolves around Runway 34, every airport has a different number for their runway and then you’d realise why he chose the wrong runway,” he said.
Runway 34 is said to have been inspired from the true story of the Jet Airways Doha-Kochi flight in 2015. The film is set to release on April 29.