Inventor’s calling

Pad Man

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Apte, Sonam Kapoor.

Director: R. Balki

Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama

Rating: 15+

RUNTIME: 140 Mins

Hailed as ‘India’s most unlikely superhero,’ he’s an entrepreneur with a heart softer than cotton and a will to change the lives of women all over India. Before his rise to fame as the Pad Man, Lakshmikant Chauhan (played by Akshay Kumar) must overcome stigma and shame to achieve his ambition.

(Note: I don’t often watch Bollywood films, however, this one has made me see what I’ve been missing out on).

The story of Pad Man is best experienced with an open mind and an open heart. When he realises the extent to which women are affected by their menses, Lakshmikant sets out to create a machine that can provide inexpensive sanitary pads to the women of rural India.

The movie is based on the true life of Tamil Nadu grassroots activist Arunachalam Muruganantham, who, in the late 1990s, decided to challenge the deep stigma surrounding women’s periods after witnessing his wife’s use of dirty rags and newspapers during menstruation because of the unaffordable cost of branded sanitary products.

A mechanic by trade and inventor by calling, Akshay Kumar brings Lakshmi to life with vigour.

He’s kind and charming to a fault, seeing easy solutions to everyday problems, and his openness and refusal to accept failure is the endearing force of nature that propels the film’s story.

As his character says in Pad Man, there are problems everywhere, and that means there are opportunities everywhere too. The same seems to apply to making movies.

Lakshmi is challenged at every step by the deeply ingrained social stigma surrounding the issue. His wife, sisters, hysterical mother, friends and strangers all express disgust at what he’s doing, and his strength of character shines through in the moments when he perseveres anyway.

That being said, the film tackles the topic of feminine hygiene with loud and clear messages. Its voice is far from subtle, which is refreshing and necessary in a biopic about an issue that is still considered sensitive in many societies.

It’s clear that director R. Balki has taken some significant artistic liberties with the romance thread. Oddly enough, this is the part I could have done without, as the rest of the story is simply infinitely more interesting.

It’s also partly the reason why it ends up being such a long movie, at a whopping two-hours-and-20-minutes. The pace picks up significantly after the first half-an-hour, but then it still occasionally falls victim to periods of melodramatic wistful stares into the distance, which I’ve since learned is the less appealing part of the genre.

Radhika Apte, who plays Gayatri, Lakshmi’s wife, spends most of the movie crying, something that’s a little detrimental to her performance. It’s hard to sympathise with a character that is so stuck in their ways, but I suppose part of the message is that new ideas often prove frightening.

Sonam Kapoor enters late in the film, playing Pria, a young, modern Indian women and a sign of the times. She’s smart, she’s business-savvy, and she sees the unique potential in Lakshmi to do something truly meaningful.

His movie is also stunningly shot. Most of the scenes were filmed in India’s Madhya Pradesh and Balki brings the audience right into the middle of every vibrant and colourful moment. 

This is the definition of an empowering underdog tale, and it’s like chicken soup for the soul. It will remind you that only the people mad enough to think they can change the world actually do.

Now showing in: City Centre, Seef II, Dana Cinemas, Wadi Al Sail, Mukta A2, Al Jazeera

Anna’s verdict: 3/5