This week Canberra director and producer Abhijit Deonath's Bollywood drama Salt Bridge will hit the silver screen at Manuka's Capitol Cinemas.

From July 27 it will screen for a week at Event Cinemas in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney too - with English subtitles as most of the dialogue is in Hindi.

The film is based in a fictional Australian city, however, Indian-born Deonath was keen to use Canberra, where he's lived for seven years, as the backdrop.

"It's based on an Indian migrant's journey through his initial days in Australia," Deonath said.

"How he kind of lands into trouble with a relationship with a woman and how that becomes a crisis in his life and how he comes out of that crisis."

The first time filmmaker not only wrote and directed the feature length film but composed songs which were shortlisted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as eligible for an Oscar.

"That news, I still get goosebumps remembering the night I got that message. It was wonderful," he said.

Bollywood actors Rajeev Khandelwal and Usha Jadhav star as husband and wife Bassant and Lipi.

But the powerhouse of creatives behind the camera, the director, producer, cinematographer, art director, sound, music, make-up artist, editor, post-production crew, were all Canberrans.

The story hints at an affair but tackles the nature of migration and how migrants' feelings about their homeland can become frozen in time.

"If there is any message it tends to advocate simplicity. Taking things at face value rather than reading too deeply between the lines," Deonath said.

The majority of filming was done in the 2015-16 summer with the crew based at a home in Bonner.

However, Deonarth, a former geologist, adores the rapturous autumn colours showcased in the ACT and filmed the season over two years to capture its beauty.

"I'm already getting some nice feedback from overseas about the cinematography and locations," he said.

Work is under way to secure film distributors to take Salt Bridge beyond Australia to audiences in India and New Zealand.