PADMAN-CHADDI KA CHAMATKAR

Image Courtesy - IMDb

I had watched the trailer of PadMan, found it hilarious and was eagerly waiting to watch this movie. The wait was lengthened by a delayed release in a show of solidarity by Akshay Kumar to make way for Padmaavat. The movie is based on the book written by Twinkle Khanna titled “The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad” which in turn was inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham who invented sanitary napkin machines that manufactured cost-efficient pads making it affordable to rural Indian women.  

I generally look forward to Akshay Kumar starrers and I went to the theatre with high expectations. Moreover, I went with my crazy bunch of friends who, like me, do not believe in muffled laughter!

The movie begins with a song that shows Lakshmikant Chauhan (Akshay Kumar) making minor inventions to save his wife Gayatri (Radhika Apte) from the inconvenience of stinging eyes while chopping onions and bumpy rides, sitting on the cycle’s cross bar (A reminder that the film showcases life in the 1990s when people didn’t have the convenience of viewing easy life-hacks on YouTube) The film was shot in a village near Indore and records the journey of Lakshmi who initially starts off with wanting his wife to have better menstrual hygiene by using sanitary napkins rather than continue using the cloth. When she refuses to use the pad on account of the steep price, he takes it upon himself to make affordable pads not only for her but also for other women in his village. However, all attempts at getting his wife and other women to use the pads he made, fail. Lakhsmi is now labelled a pervert in his village who despite many a warning continues to meddle in “ladies’ affairs” and speak openly about “that, which should not be named”.  Gayatri returns to her brother’s house claiming that she’d rather die of unhygienic conditions than of shame that has befallen her.  Lakshmi leaves his village and sets out on a quest that leads him to invent the sanitary napkin manufacturing machine and this is where Pari (Sonam Kapoor) makes her entry. Pari encourages Lakshmi on his journey of manufacturing affordable pads and distribute it amongst the rural women and also ends up with the pad being named after her. Though the length of time is not divulged, Lakshmi makes the headlines by winning an award at IIT and later on, the Padma Shri and is now looked up to by the people in his village.

I had a sense of déjà vu whilst sitting through the whole film. It reminded me of ‘Toilet’, another Akshay Kumar starrer that had a similar story-line. The Husband in an attempt to improve the wife’s state of living, brings to light a much larger albeit a taboo issue, the whole process which has him shunned by not only the society but also proved tumultuous to his marriage.

The movie, although has its funny bits, is a bit slow. The second half had us yawning and constantly checking our phones with the word “pad, pad, pad” ringing in the background. The actors have portrayed their characters well, the dialogues (especially the speech given by Lakshmi at the end of the movie) are entertaining, the movie succeeds in delivering the social message and yet the movie lacked the wow-factor. I suppose I was expecting too much from the Balki-Akshay duo.

Also, in an attempt to conform to the Bollywood-scene, the introduction of the love triangle and the superfluous “kissing scene” had us all shake our heads in disappointment.

Had the movie not borne a stark similarity to Toilet-Ek Prem Katha, we would have probably enjoyed it a bit more.

Period.

P.S: the tagline in the title of this post is from one of the posters shown in the film welcoming Lakshmi back into his village