“It’s been the most precious moment. I can’t tell you how proud I felt of being an Indian. To come to another country, take their form of art, do it my way and to get a response like this, is truly unforgettable,” said Bhansali over phone from Paris.

In true Bhansali style, the opera was embellished with colours, elephants, women in colourful ghagra cholis and over the top emotions. Bhansali’s oeuvre is backed by a truly Indian team with costumes by Rajesh Pratap Singh, choreography by Tanusree Shankar, lighting by Somak Mukherjee and sets by Omung Kumar Bhandula.

Padmavati is led by a mainly French cast with Marie-Nicole Lemieux from the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec playing the title role of the Indian queen who commits sati after stabbing her husband, Ratan Sen, to stop falling into Alouddin’s lustful clutches.

Critics seemed to agree with the audiences. “The sets and the direction is Indian in style…a perfect alchemy of the Bollywood style,” said a review on classiquenews.com. “The visual deployment of the choreography has a somewhat poetic force especially in the sequences that narrate the fierceness and the tragic heroism of a princess in love.”

Resmusica.com said Padmavati was spectacular, vibrant and rich in colours. “This profusion of effects can bring about a visual saturation (maybe the next time they can do away with the metallic jewelry of the dancers) but you can’t contest that Sanjay Leela Bhansali knows how to direct his actors, nothing is left to chance, all the movements look natural,” it said.

“The audience responded to the drama, the pathos, the music and the tragedy. It was truly an uplifting experience,” recounts Bhansali.

Claiming that now he’s “hooked on to doing operas”, Bhansali said its timing, after the critical massacre of his last release, Saawariya, couldn’t have been better. “It takes a lot of courage and strength to do something so unexplored just two months after your last artistic work has been ripped apart,” he said. “Today, I feel reassured and slightly vindicated.”

Bhansali senses a deep connection with France. “My best is achieved here. I go to a store to buy bread and people ask me if I’m an Indian. They ask me, ‘Do you know Devdas and Aishwarya Rai?’, I smile and say, “I’ve heard the names somewhere,” he laughs. Padmavati’s last show will be staged on March 24.