BALKI WISHES SANJAY, PADMAAVAT THE BEST

As Padmaavat finally sees its day in the sun, Pad Man director R. Balki says that it is about time that the film industry banded together as a fraternity

Akshay Kumar won many hearts in the film industry when he declared he would not release Pad Man alongside Padmaavat on January 25. “It was a decision taken almost instantaneously by all of us in the Pad Man team when Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Viacom18, the producers of Padmaavat approached us with the request that we move the date. It didn’t take us a minute to agree with their request. It’s the least we could do for a project that has gone through so much upheaval. Padmaavat needs the Republic Day slot more than us. We don’t mind moving ahead by two weeks because we know whenever our film releases, we have a winning project on hand,” says Pad Man director R. Balki, showing deep solidarity with Bhansali and Padmaavat.

Balki reasons, “Sanjay looked so shaken and troubled. My heart

Isn’t it about time we in the film industry stopped projecting an impression of a house divided? R. BALKI, DIRECTOR

reached out to him. Isn’t it about time we in the film industry stopped projecting an impression of a house divided? At the end of the day, we filmmakers belong to the same fraternity. Of course, we have to be selfish about our own film. But not at the

expense of someone else’s film. We can’t say, ‘ Usski film gayi bhaad

mein’ ( to hell with their film). Because if someone else’s film gets into trouble, we must remind our selves that the trouble could befall our film also.”

Balki is confident about his film’s release date Feb 9. “Pad Man is meant to start a debate on menstrual hygiene. Akshay Kumar’s last release

Toilet: Ek Prem Katha had carried forward an important debate on toiase, let amenities. But in our case, the debate on menstrual hygiene will be started with Pad Man. No one talks about menstrual matters. We didn’t want that debate to be caught in the crossfire of controversies. We would rather come a little later than clash with a film which desperately needs to be released.”

“Padmaavat was destined to come out solo. I hope it stands tall and I wish it glorious success ,” Balki signs off.