Pad Man: Akshay's super hero tale triumphs. Period!

Pad Man : ****

India | Hindi | Biographical | Comedy | Drama

Cast: Akshay Kumar; Sonam Kapoor; Radhika Apte;

Duration: 140 Minutes

Release: 9th Feb 2018

Plot: (Wiki)

The film will be based on "The Sanitary Man of Sacred Land", a short story from Twinkle Khanna's book, The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, which is inspired from the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a Tamil Nadu-based social activist who revolutionized the concept of menstrual hygiene in rural India by creating a low-cost sanitary napkins machine. Padman revolves around the story of Arunachalam who invented low-cost sanitary pads.

Review:

Inspired from the Arunachalam Muruganantham, the makers perhaps were sure that film's some aspects may not fit right with the audience keeping that in mind, a disclaimer is shared right for the film starts specifying some characters are purely fictional. The film takes the easiest way out and shows the characters backdrop through a song. Given how the 1st half turned out to be slow, it is it the best they could do and not drag out the story further.

Lakshmikant Chauhan (played by Akshay) soon after marrying Gayatri (played by Radhika) begins to show concern for her well being when he finds out she uses dirty rags while menstruation. As any loving and caring husband, he does the best he can at the moment to help her and brings her sanitary pads from the local medial shop. 

Here's where Laxmi's character becomes interesting, even when he is asking his wife to not obey superstitious rules during periods he also makes the audience aware of the fact that he has also told other women in the household not to do so. (which includes two younger sisters). When he buys the pads at the medical store he makes it a point to show that he was never awkward about the subject at all. In a village full of rural beliefs how is this one 8th Pass man so comfortable with all of this. It could make sense that his fear for Gayatri's life drives away the rural beliefs. 

Gayatri who is thankful for Laxmi support immediately asks him to return the product due to its high cost, which in turns fuels Laxmi's desire to make affordable sanitary pads. When he fails to get help and feedback from women he tries the test product on himself. The one scene where he stains his pants with animal blood and runs to jump in the river, is easily one of the best scenes in the film. That scene alone shows Akshay's amazing acting skills. Due to this adversity, the village casts him as a pervert and a madman. 

With smart and witty dialogues Balki makes the film easier to digest with a balance between preaching and entertaining. The film takes a faster momentum in the second half and breezes through learning about the materials he needs, the machine he creates and the praise he receives all thanks to Pari (played by Sonam ) an MBA student who gets influenced by Laxmi's heavy heartwarming dialogues. 

Pari the fictional character could have just supported the story better without the love angle between the 2. I suspected it while the makers started launching songs and was hoping that the story could do without it but it happened with an old style hide a lip kiss with the head title.

The story does touch more than women hygiene but also the way they are treated the rural thoughts, believes, the true meaning of being a man. The film has used the word Pad so many times that by the end of it your brain just accepts it which would work as a great strategy if the film is highly circulated among villages like Toilet Ek prem katha was. 

The only other thing I hated more than Pari's and Laxmi's love interest is the makers not talking about the real Pad Man, Arunachalam Muruganantham. The makers could have taken more than a sec to actually showcase him. Granted people don't really read but effort is always appreciated. 

Verdict: Akshay uses a great marketing strategy to make a taboo topic a household discussion. Period! **** stars

With all honesty, I did find Sonam a little too cheery, sarcastic when she didn't intend to be and annoying. 

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