Sanjay Leela Bhansali is tense.

Devdas, his cinematic opus, which comes alive on 70 mm for the third time (after P C Barua's and Bimal Roy's outings with K L Saigal and Dilip Kumar respectively) has a lot riding on it.

It has been a rough ride for Bhansali --- the obstacles he faced ranged from catastrophes on the sets, the arrest of the film's financier Bharat Shah to music composer Ismail Darbar's walking out when the theme music was still unfinished.

The director seems to have overcome them all. Now, he is standing tall.

Here, he speaks with Lata Khubchandani about the world premiere of his film at the Cannes Film Festival.

How significant is Devdas' screening at Cannes for Hindi cinema and for your film?

The Cannes Film Festival is the biggest, most prestigious film festival in the world. This is where filmmakers are discovered, where futures are made and the most important films premiered.

Though all festivals are important, this Cannes Festival starts off the season.

How is this selection made?

The representatives of the festival come down to India. They watch many films, meet filmmakers and then the jury makes its decision and selects the films they think are worthy. The committee prefers to have films premiere at their festival. They are more likely to choose films that have not been released overseas.

Your earlier film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is back in the news...

The film was first noticed at the Fukuoka Festival in Japan last year. I recently read in the newspapers that Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was being released in 60 theatres in Japan and was being screened for the Japanese Parliament.

A lot of good first things are happening to me, for the first time in my life. Devdas is the first Hindi commercial film to be seen at Cannes. And Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is getting a whole lot of appreciation abroad. I'm pleased.

What are your expectations from Devdas?

I want the film to touch audiences as much as the story touched me.

The story itself has an inbred energy; it pulls at your heartstrings. I've tried to translate that onto celluloid after identifying with it at a very personal level. I hope it reaches out to the viewers.

How satisfying was it to make this film?

We faced horrifying nightmares during the making of the film. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. I can't even talk about it because that makes me relive the whole nightmare.

But if I forget that, making Devdas was a dream come true.