Welcoming the chance for Indian artists to show off their wares at a “venue open to blending of ideas” and cultures which at first glance do not appear linked, Rahim says he sees the festival as a ”vehicle for dialogue between cultures, races, languages and aesthetics” wrapped in “a forum for diversity.”

Spain is not entirely a stranger to the “Bollywood’ express — earlier this year the Bollywood “Royal Productions” company came to the southern city of Malaga to film some scenes for the musical, ”Cettanattu Thangam,” directed by BR Shivraj.

But the genre is still a rather novel concept for Spanish cinema audiences, hence the drive to foment interest in the six-day, 35-film festival at the Circulo de Bellas Artes.

Opening the festival will be two films — Anjan Das’ “Iti Srikanta” and Shyam Benegal’s “Manthan”, a tale of milk cooperatives in Gujarat.

Viswanadhan’s “Fire” and a second showing of the same director’s ”Sand” will bring it to a close on Sunday, May 22.

Bollywood entries include Mani Ratman’s “Bombay” (1995), a romantic tale of love across Hindu and Muslim communities, as well as “Gaja Gamini,” M.F. Husain’s and Kamna Chandra’s tale of a blind girl who persuades women in her village to kick out against a male-dominated society.

The official section includes Sanjay Bhansali’s 2005 offering ”Black,” as well as Bengali poet Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s “Chased By Dreams.”

A select international jury made up of figures including playwright Girish Karnad, who arrives fresh from a spell as director at the Nehru Centre in London, will then decide which works merit a Golden Chakra award.

A “golden chakra” in Indian philosophy is an energy centre in the back said to radiate wisdom and confidence.

As organisers concluded at last year’s festival, India is bound to comprise a cinematic treasure trove as “a country with more than one billion inhabitants has an unlimited story-telling capacity,”  shrugging off a perceived trend towards global cultural conformity.

The festival will show off a range of directors, with a highlight being a retrospective of work by Benegal, a key pillar of India’s modern “parallel” cinema and who with his mid-1970s films such as “Ankur”, “Nishant” and “Manthan” threw into stark relief social issues such as caste prejudice.

Documenting the decline of feudalism in post-independence India the trio of works by the Hyderabad-born Benegali are generally regarded as classic milestones of Indian cinema.

Viswanadhan’s “Five Elements” opens the documentary section with Bollywood enjoying increasing international renown, Rahim says that the festival has made a deliberate attempt to “open its doors” to the movement and show Spanish cinemagoes what they have been missing.

Musically, the festival also highlights the contributions of musical director tandem Shankar and Jaikishen, popularly known as SJ, whose effortless stream of hits served as a backdrop to 1950s and 60s Indian popular cinematic culture.

Rahim promises in his festive foreword that the event will also seek to portray Spanish musical influence on Indian cinema, which “will surprise those who still think that Spain and India have nothing in common.”