Bhavai: Pratik Gandhi's Bollywood debut to now release on October 22

Musical drama "Bhavai", featuring "Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story" star Pratik Gandhi, will now be released theatrically on October 22. Directed by Hardik Gajjar and backed by Pen Studios, the film was earlier set to open in cinemas on October 1. The decision to reshuffle the release came days after the Maharashtra government allowed reopening of cinema halls from October 22.

"Team 'Bhavai' thanks the Government of Maharashtra for reopening theatres. 'Bhavai' to release on 22nd October," the makers said in a statement. The film, about the popular folk theatre form from Gujarat, was earlier titled "Raavan Leela (Bhavai)".

Last week, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) issued a show-cause notice to the makers for flouting certification rules and tampering with the content of the film.

After the trailer of the film was released, the makers made two modifications changed the title of the movie to simply "Bhavai" and removed a sequence showing two theatre actors, playing the roles of Ram (Ankur Vikal) and Raavan (Gandhi), in an off-stage conversation with each other after it was criticised by a section of audience for being allegedly offensive.

According to the CBFC, the makers changed the title in the trailer and also included portions "deposited" with the film body. "Bhavai" also stars Aindrita Ray, Rajendra Gupta, Rajesh Sharma, and Abhimanyu Singh in pivotal roles.