This movie seems like just another Bollywood film. It has the disco-beat songs, the hip-swiveling dance number and the hero and heroine cavorting in the rain in drenched revealing clothes. But “Aisa Kyon Hota Hai?” or “Why Does This Happen?” is a unique first. The newly released feature film, which centers around the twin themes of safe sex and inter-religious harmony, was produced by the Roman Catholic Church in India.

The Rev. Dominic Emmanuel, the film’s scriptwriter and the spokesman for the New Delhi archdiocese, agreed that it’s not the church’s normal way of entertaining its flock. “It is all about using a medium, in this case film, which is not only the most popular in India, but also available to people across the country,” Emmanuel said.

“We did not want to sound preachy. A whole film on HIV would be too boring. At the same time we wanted to hold the attention of the audience,” said Emmanuel, who first thought about doing a television show, but ended up deciding a movie would be more effective.

With 5.13 million cases, India ranks second only to South Africa in the number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. People infected with the virus face any number of prejudices, from difficulty getting into schools to hospitals that refuse to treat them.

The Hindi-language film, made on a comparatively low budget of $450,000, opened in New Delhi cinemas in late February and has seen a “fairly good response,” Emmanuel said. It was funded in part by UNICEF and contributions from Christian aid groups like Catholic Relief Services.