Black & White marks Ghai's first outing as director after his period film Kisna sank at the box-office three years ago.

The story of a Kashmiri suicide bomber plotting a terror attack at the Red Fort on India's Independence Day, Black & White explores the mind of a terrorist veering between sworn duty and human emotions.

"Even if a person is a terrorist, he is first a human," Ghai said in an interview. "My film is about the clash of two beliefs - the civil society and the terrorist ideology."

"It will show that even a terrorist, who is groomed to die, suffers from pangs of guilt and indecision before committing his act of violence."

Ghai, who directed blockbusters like Taal and Khalnayak in the 1990s, said Black & White was an attempt to make an issue-based film after toying with stereotyped characters that were larger than life.

"I wanted to make something that promotes secularism. I wanted to show that we can mutually co-exist," the 62-year-old filmmaker said. "Innocent people are getting killed in this political and ideological war."

Black & White, which does not feature typical song-and-dance sequences, opens in cinemas on March 7.