Akshay Kumar is a talented and high-powered actor who often goes for films inspired from real life events. Each time he comes up with a film like that, he wins the heart of the audience. Last Year, the actor took a risk and featured in a film based on open defecation with Bhumi Pednekar. Toilet-Ek Prem Katha emerged as a hit at the box office. On 26 January, his next film ‘PadMan’ based on menstrual hygiene will be released and it is already creating a lot of buzz on social media. The film will feature Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor and Radhika Apte and it has been produced by Twinkle Khanna.
The story is adapted from Twikle Khanna’s book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad which she wrote on Arunachalam Muruganantham’s real life story. Arunachalam was a resident of Coimbatore, an illiterate man who proved to be a real life superhero and invented a machine to produce sanitary pads at a low cost. Empathizing with the pain that women go through while menstruation and also the issue of not being able to afford sanitary pads, this man took a major step and after all the criticism he finally achieved his goal.
Akshay Kumar was brave enough to pick such a role as an actor. According to Firstpost, he opened up about the film and said “I can say from my experience that when I did Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, it was like entering a dangerous zone but the film brought a lot of changes in society. I am already victorious with millions and millions of people talking about PadMan on social media, men discussing with other men and asking each other whether they watched the PadMan trailer and that it talks about sanitary pads. I am glad they are talking, they should know. So I presume change happened in that time span.”
He further added, “Whatever business this movie does, it doesn’t matter. What matters is people start talking and acting upon it. This is not a commercial film like Rowdy Rathore. It has substance. I want parents to watch the film with their daughter/s, want young dating couples to watch it together and want people to talk about menstruation as normally as possible.”
As per media reports, the actor, in fact, narrated his experience of learning about menstruation, “I learnt about menstruation only when I was 19-20. I never held a pad in my hand. Nobody in my family asked me to buy sanitary napkin and it’s only in the last two years that I came to know about it in great detail. I have now learnt that menstruating women are considered ritually impure and polluted, and they are often isolated as untouchables. That they can’t touch pickles, enter kitchen, or go to temples, wash their hair. Then, too many girls end up dropping out of school because they don’t have supplies to manage their periods.”
Akshay Kumar disclosed that even his son Aarav is well aware of menstruation and that Twinkle has explained him everything. The actor is also planning a sequel of the film which will be titled Padman 2.0.