I ALWAYS WANTED TO WORK AND MAKE SUCH FILMS, SAYS AKSHAY KUMAR ON PADMAN

On Monday, team Padman; Akshay Kumar, Twinkle Khanna, Radhika Apte, director R Balki and Arunachalam Muruganantham were in the capital city to promote their film Padman. There Akshay Kumar shared how he wanted to work on socially conscious films for a long time but now he has the financial support to take up such projects.

Akshay told the reporters, "I always wanted to work and make such films but I was not a producer during that time. I didn't had enough money but now I can. My wife told me about Muruganantham and then we met R Balki. So we thought about making this movie". He further added "Even Hollywood has not a film on sanitary pads or menstrual hygiene. People always make documentaries but they don't want to make commercial films. We have tried to do that."

When asked about what prompted them to take Padman challenge, Muruganantham said, "I just want to spread awareness about menstrual hygiene. So far only women speak about it. I want men to start speaking about it. Every father, brother, and husband should know about menstruation. It is not just about women, it is about men too".

When Twinkle Khanna was asked, what made her do a film on such topic, she replied  "I was doing some research and reading some columns on menstruation and I came across Muruganantham's story. Immediately it gripped me because this was an incredible story. There were two parts to this story. One part was menstruation where a man was doing something for his wife." She further added, "It was also a story about innovation where a man was not limited by his educational qualifications or his lack of proficiency in English and he goes on to become an innovator. So even if we want to give a message across, we have to give it in an entertaining way. If it is not going to interest people then they will not watch the movie".

Radhika Apte was asked to share some tips on how to deal with periods on the professional front, she replied, "In every profession, it is hard to deal with it. You just need to open up and say I am on my periods. I do tell my director that I am on periods, do not make me run 20 times for a scene."

The film is based on a short story from Twinkle's book "The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad". The story is inspired by the life of Muruganantham, a Tamil Nadu based social activist who created low-cost sanitary napkins machines and revolutionized the concept of menstrual hygiene. The movie is slated to release on February 9.