Indian Cinema everywhere (except in India of course) is known for its colorful and musical cinematographic depictions of life bordering on the over dramatization.
But come January 2018, Indian Cinema keeping with its efforts to make a change and create an impact, is starting off the year by doing so through the depiction of the sensitive topic of the female menstrual cycle in its movie Padman.
In a land where marriage by choice and sex is still a touchy topic with the people across all divisions struggling to cultivate an environment of discussion and awareness through whatever means available—from education to cinema, a movie on a man who took it upon himself to find a solution to the “secretive” problem of women is remarkable.
By giving a catchy title to appeal to the masses who relate to Superman, Spiderman, and other Western superheroes as well as making it simple enough to catch the interest of the layman, Padman is indeed a superhero not just in India but to the world everywhere. He truly believed that strong women make a strong country.
Based on the true story of one Arunachalam Muruganantham, who seeing the sacrifices his wife made of using a rag cloth as her sanitary napkin in order to save money, went on a mission to make cheap, affordable, quality sanitary napkins for women everywhere.
Of course being a man in a tabooed land such as India, especially in the rural parts of Coimbatore (South of India), this was no easy task. At the cost of losing his wife, his sisters, his mother and being labeled in the society as pervert, his mission of ensuring that this private problem of women is addressed in a public and respectful manner, especially to and by the women in the villages, he set on a mission to ensure that women in villages did not use dirty rag cloths as their sanitary napkins in the name of it being a cheap alternative.
He wanted the women themselves, first of all, to stop covering and hiding behind the veil of societal perception and economic valuation. He did this by being a role model himself. By getting into the shoes of what women experienced every month, quite literally, he wore these sanitary napkins he made during the trial stages of his project and attached a pump to his leg that squirted animal blood onto the pad.
This was doubly needed as no women—not even his wife or his sisters or even the medical students he approached–were willing to help him without doubting his intentions and also for his project to move ahead without having to wait once a month for test results.
Also dubbed as the man who wore pads, Arunachalam Muruganantham is depicted by the famous Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, to educate, spread the awareness as well as honor the struggles and sacrifices of this one man across all domains of society.
Watch the movie to see the full realization of its impact as well as to realize that it is not fancy degrees or the reading of Shakespeare that can change the world. All it takes is humanity, just a small gesture of understanding and realizing the difficulties of another person stand to change the world in a profound manner. This new year, let us draw inspiration from Mr. Muruganantham to drop our selfish costumes and realize the world outside of ourselves.
Kudos to Arunachalam Muruganantham and to Twinkle Khanna Productions for making this movie and seeking out the mass awareness of this message!
