During the 10-day visit, the award-winning director painted a mural on the side of a hotel in Mumbai and journeyed through Rajasthan on a motorbike, painting artworks with local children. He was accompanied by Australian artist Vincent Fantauzzo.

''I think we both feel, as a lot of Australians do, that if you have any connection to India you feel really, really sad and disturbed. We never see our country as particularly racist or particularly violent,'' Luhrmann said.

The attacks - including the fatal stabbing of Nitin Garg in Melbourne on January 2 - have strained relations between Australia and India and sparked protests in both nations.

''As artists, we can stand up and very directly say, 'Look, this is not the voice of our country, this is not the attitude of Australians','' Luhrmann said.

''Every country, I said, has a few sick, tragic losers who do very tragic things. It's really important to identify that this is not the Australian voice.''

The Mumbai mural painted by the pair included images of Elvis and dancer Gene Kelly as well as Bollywood iconography.

Luhrmann said it combined Western and Indian musical elements to celebrate the idea of dance as a unifying art.

During his trip he also held a press conference in Delhi and met high-profile Bollywood stars including actor Amitabh Bachchan, promoting the message of friendship between both countries.

An accident outside Delhi left him with a broken hand.

''A guy jumped from a moving bus, collided with my bike and, well, it was a good ad for protective clothing,'' said Luhrmann, adding it was ''a small price to pay for a pretty extraordinary trip''.

He said his ''Indo-Australian peace initiative'' came from ''just a genuine place, honestly. It was very positive and joyous and exciting''.