Akshay Kumar in a still from 'PadMan'
On Friday, the
trailer of Akshay Kumar, Radhika Apte and Sonam Kapoor's
PadMan hit our social media feeds and the hashtag #PadManTrailer soon began trending. The film has been much-talked-about since being announced earlier this year by writer and former actor Twinkle Khanna. Based on one of the stories from her 2016 bestseller
The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, the film is a biopic of Arunachalam Muruganantham - India's real life "PadMan". The social entrepreneur has spent nearly two decades of his life trying to ensure women in rural areas have access to affordable sanitary napkins, where menstruation remains taboo till date.
A school dropout from Coimbatore, Arunachalam Muruganantham is the man behind India's sanitary pad revolution. But his own journey hasn't been an easy one. He was made aware about the hardships of menstruation by his wife, Shanthi. Determined to help her, he developed a sanitary pad made out of cotton and even tried it on himself. Twenty years later, his organisation, "Jayshree Industries", with its 4,500 factories in 14 states across the country, gives millions of women from low-income groups the dignity of hygiene during menstruation.
But the topic of menstruation is not one confined to rural areas alone. India has a problem saying the "P-word." We all know medical store attendants who wrap sanitary napkins in newspaper and then a second layer of black plastic bag before handing them over. And that "Walk of Shame" at work of taking a sanitary napkin out of your bag, quickly shoving it in your pocket or hiding it under your arm and dashing towards the loo. All too familiar.
In a country that treats periods like
Harry Potter's Voldemort (He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named),
PadMan and Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar may just help trigger a much-needed dialogue on menstruation.
Scenes showing Akshay Kumar casually trying to wear a sanitary napkin or handing them to his sister (imagine the horror) seems to have got Twitterati talking about... wait for it... periods.
PadMan, which releases on January 26, will see Akshay Kumar playing Lakshmikant Chauhan who develops a low-cost pad for his wife, played by Radhika Apte. Actor Sonam Kapoor also stars in the film, which has been produced by Twinkle Khanna and directed by R Balki.Click for more
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