PadMan : Akshay campaigns for a new cause

Shveata Chandel Singh At 2:34 pm 0 Comment Print

Akshay Kumar, who won mass popularity for his action films and comedy-oriented films, is now focusing on movies shedding light on social issues.

Not limiting himself to few roles, Akshay’s pronounced sense of conscience and engagement with significant social issues in his recent projects.

His recent project ‘Padman’ was released in Sydney on February 9, 2018.

The PadMan protagonist, modeled on Arunachalam Muruganantham focuses on an engrossing and important subject – which was raised by a man who challenged patriarchal taboos with openness and determination that many men all over the progressive world might wither from even now.

Public Movie Review Australia by DS Dave

The performances by Akshay Kumar as Laxmikant Chauhan and Radhika Apte as Gayathri troubled wife are pleasant and sincere.

Twenty years ago, Arunachalam Muruganantham was a metalworker who thought it lamentable that his wife Shanthi and all the women in his community had to rely on dirty rags when they got their periods because sanitary pads were absurdly overpriced.

So he did something about it, developing a low-cost machine for making the pads and evangelizing for their use all across the country, instituting a revolution in feminine hygiene, ending the toxic masculine culture of silence and disapproval and introducing a dialect culture of social entrepreneurship.

The stigma attached to ‘Periods’ has turned this basic need into a life-altering problem. Women living in rural areas do not have the means to invest in hygienic ways to dispose of their menstrual blood and usually end up using rags of cloth, or even leaves from trees.

Such practices can lead to numerous serious infections and diseases including UTI, cervical cancer, and early miscarriages. And yet, despite the risks, due to numerous social and cultural restraints, women hesitate to talk about the issues related to menstruation and would prefer to suffer in silence, as Apte’s character states. Sonam makes quite a late entry in the narrative, but adds charm to every frame she inhabits. Her character is beautifully etched, perhaps to balance Radhika’s immature and self-destructive wife.

South Sydney India Association presented to a houseful a special screening of the movie at Bankstown Hoyts Cinema on the very first day of its release in Sydney.

Shweta Doke and Ramya Badrinath of SSIA said, “The subject was appealing, and so was the movie. Still in many parts of India female hygiene is not given much importance which definitely leads to many health hazards. The movie will surely enlighten many people and hope it will help in bringing awareness among the women folks.”

Overall Padman is an empowering film that gives you the wings, despite the odds.  We hope the movie will free women of their shyness and that will be its biggest success.  There is no harm in considering self hygiene,  so let’s talk about it (Periods).

Australia Community Videos Akshay Kumar, Arunachalam Muruganantham, PadMan, Radhika Apte