Pratik Gandhi's 'Bhavai' pushed by three weeks, to now release on October 22

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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.

Despite this title change, the Pratik Gandhi starrer film kept receiving heavy backlash on social media with many demanding to ban the movie. Addressing the backlash, the makers had issued a statement on their Twitter handle. There, they clarified that the title and a controversial dialogue had been removed from the film and the promo as well.

"With due respect to the concerns regarding the title of the promo and dialogue in the promo, we wish to clarify that the dialogue and the above title 'Raavan Leela' is not part of the film and has been removed from the promo as well respecting the sentiments of our viewers," read an excerpt from the statement. It added, "The film 'Bhavai' has been approved and passed by the Censor Board of Film Certification under the 'U' category."

"Bhavai" also stars Aindrita Ray, Rajendra Gupta, Rajesh Sharma, and Abhimanyu Singh in pivotal roles. 

(With PTI inputs)