Bhavana said she has explored religious undercurrents through her camera and aimed to prove that humanity is the prime religion. The film was showcased as the closing film of the 'Cinemas of the World' section at the festival, which celebrated 60 years of its existence.

"I chose this subject because religion affects all of us today. Riots are happening on the basis of religion. The fact is that none of the religions send out such messages," Bhavana said.

The film stars the versatile Pankaj Kapur and his talented wife Supriya Pathak. The first-time director says it wasn't so difficult to convince the veteran actor to do the role.

"I met him and told him about the story idea. He said that he would like to read the script first. So, I gave him the script and he liked it and gave it a go," said Talwar.

Set in Varanasi, the film follows a staunch Brahmin couple, played by Pankaj and Supriya, who give shelter to a Muslim boy.

"Dharm" is credited as India's first high-definition (HD) movie.

Asked about the expectations from the film, she said: "I don't have any expectations. I have done my best and I have made a film that I believe in."

Bhavana doesn't like this distinction between commercial and non-commercial films.

She says: "The whole idea is to make a good film and every filmmaker wants his or her film to be commercial success and there is no harm in it."

It's more than a decade that any Indian film has made it to the competition section at Cannes.

"The moment we will come back to our culture and ethos we will get recognised. If you see films from France or Poland, they give you insight into their culture but a majority of our cinema is missing that." 

In India, animosity has been infused amongst Hindus and Muslims, two communities that have co-existed here for centuries. Militant Hindus are being created to fight back the ‘Jihad’ or Islamic religious wars that certain Muslims seem to be fighting the world over.

This is extremely unfortunate as the Vedas (Hindu Scriptures) prescribe – ‘Manavta Paramo Dharma’ which means that Humanity is every Hindu’s prime duty. It can also be interpreted as - Humanity is the only religion.

Pandit Ram Narayan Chaturvedi(Pankaj Kapur) is a Hindu Brahmin priest who lives by his belief in the 'true Hindu way of life'. He fastidiously, almost fanatically, practices his religion, as per the ancient Hindu scriptures.

He follows the prescribed rituals of prayers as well as the social practice of casteism, which ordains that he is a Brahmin, the most superior human caste & then there are others, including Sudras, who are untouchables.

His life has been following an uninterrupted pattern of rituals and prayers for the past thirty years... when a child comes into his life and shakes the very core of his beliefs.