Is Padman Akshay’s boldest outing ever?

Only about 16% of girls in India use sanitary napkins, as per a study by UNICEF. Others use dry leaves, wood shavings, old fabrics and even plastic, since they can’t afford napkins.

Surely, such an abysmal statistics will come as a big shock. Now, actor Akshay Kumar has addressed the same issue — considered taboo by many across the nation — in his new film, the R Balki directorial, Padman.

Before the trailer hits the Internet today, HT Café had a sneak peek at it. Going by the promo, Akshay seems to have hit the nail on its head by picking up a sensitive subject, and dealing with it delicately while at the same time, sending out a hard-hitting message.

The trailer effectively shows the struggles of the real Padman – social activist Arunachalam Muruganantham (played by Akshay) — who took a lot of efforts to understand the cause that he was fighting for, such as trying out a ladies’ underwear to ensure that the napkins are ergonomic.

“The film is extremely close to Akshay’s heart because of the issue that it addresses. He tackled the topic of sanitation and lack of toilets, especially for women, in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. Akshay knows that he can easily do commercial capers but wants to help address as many such social issues as he can through cinema,” says an insider.

Produced by Akshay’s wife, Twinkle Khanna, Padman is based on a story from her latest book, The Legend Of Lakshmi Prasad, which is inspired from the life of Muruganantham, who revolutionised the concept of menstrual hygiene in rural India by inventing low-cost sanitary pads. “Not just women, men are also going to be touched by the way Akshay has taken up the issue in an honest but entertaining manner,” says the insider, who maintains that the film has kept intact all the essence of a “must-watch” family film.

Calling it “one of Akshay’s most terrific performances ever”, Balki says “whatever apprehensions he had with regards to sensitivity of the film’s topic”, it was before he started writing the script. “It’s a delicate topic but we didn’t want to treat it as a taboo subject. The idea was to give the film a kind of treatment that women would like to see and not just men,” says Balki.

Yes, it’s a delicate topic but we didn’t want to treat it as a taboo subject. The idea was to give the film a kind of treatment that women would like to see and not just men R BALKI DIRECTOR

PHOTO: HTBS