Film Review: Pad Man
Pad Man is a heart-warming film that portrays the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, an innovator who manufactured inexpensive sanitary pads to alleviate disease and stigma in women in India. The film ensues the efforts of Lakshmi, played by Akshay Kumar as he tackles stigma, stereotypes and superstition to succeed in his efforts to make quality sanitary products available to all women in India.
The film begins with a song, where Lakshmikant Chouhan serenades to his wife about carrying her sorrows, and bringing her the moon, if she simply makes him sweet malpuas (North Indian sweet dish), and showcases their wedding, and marital bliss. Through the song, the audience devours the functional sincerities of Lakshmikant, as he attempts to build gears and contraptions, to resolve his wife’s household issues. His Bob-The-Builder vibe, combined with his stern ambition to ‘provide’, for his wife, sets the tone for 140- minute film, that follows Lakshmi, as he is fondly known, in his journey to manufacture inexpensive pads.
As the song draws to a close, Gayathri begins her period, and we see the seemingly normal, fully ritualistic move that she makes from her bedroom to a small balcony space outside their home. It is a practice common in many parts of India, where menstruation, and those menstruating are deemed to be impure and are sent to live away from the home for the length of their period. It is depicted in a raw, real and unexaggerated manner, and highlights the normalized mindset of both the women who endure it, and the society that enforces it. The premise of the film is set when Lakshmi sees Gayathri use a dirty rag, as an alternative to sanitary pads. He is made painfully aware of the exorbitant price of sanitary products, when he purchases a pack of pads for Rs. 55. It is also at this moment, we, as an audience are made painfully aware, that Akshay Kumar is not fully the right fit for a young, newly married man, but also is able to deliver his role with gumption and ease, and his particularly natural demeanor, command, and poise.
The movie then progresses to a comedy of errors, and some very corny errors in writing, but overall provides to the audience a moving and wholesome picture of a man trying to bring change. It is a typecast nineties Bollywood film, that is juxtaposed with a typecast Akshay Kumar film, where the central character ambitiously serves the nation, and changes the lives of their fellow countrypeople, whilst his wife, mother, sisters leave him, and his village ostracizes him.
The movie is interspersed with songs of love, heartbreak, new beginnings. The lyrics are genuine and depict the feelings, and experiences of a blissfully unaware, but well-intentioned, lower-middle-class man, caught in the illogical chaos and ways of society. Radhika Apte is a sight for sore eyes with her performance as Gayathri, is convincingly comfortable in her character’s skin. She is stellar in her depiction of a strong woman, who, whilst fits the role of an ideal wife and daughter-in-law, has opinions, and makes her own decisions too. Sonam Kapoor, who makes her appearance in the second half of the film, as a champion of Lakshmi’s work, and experiences, is an unconventional, in all the ways it could be depicted, from her family, to her experimental fusion dressing of Indian and Western wear, and her character as a table player, in need of a pad, after a performance. She is a delightful addition to the star cast of Kumar and Apte.
Pad Man is a worthwhile film to watch. The cast does not take away from the incredible intention and work of the Arunachalam Murugantham. And just like any other Bollywood film, Kumar and Apte do not age, through the long years, that Lakshmi stays away, to produce and champion his low-cost pad, in an attempt to once again be accepted by his wife, family and village, all while being honoured with the Padmashri, India’s fourth highest civilian award, and speaking at the UN, NBD.