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Film Review: Pad Man (2018) by R. Balki

” is inspired from the short story “The Sanitary Man of Sacred Land” written by Twinkle Khanna on the life events of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social entrepreneur from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India, who invented the low cost sanitary pad-making machine, with nearly no financial support.  Directed by well known Indian film director , the film has sensibly portrayed a delicate issue with a strong underlined social message.

Lakshmikant Chauhan () is a welder and gets married to Gayatri () and slowly discovers that his wife uses unclean and non hygienic rags in her menstrual phase every month.  To maintain the menstrual hygiene of his wife, Laxmi buys sanitary napkins from the market, but Gayatri refuses to use those as being expensive. With time, Laxmi understands that it's also the superstitions and ignorance in the thought process that prevents women from following a healthy and safe process in the menstrual time. Laxmi decides to make disposable pads of his own for his wife and the movie revolves around the events and his struggle, to manufacture low cost sanitary pads to help the rural females and the underprivileged, with the help of Pari () in the later part.

Askshay Kumar gives a brilliant performance as Laxmi. His role has gone through different shades, including ones of humor with underlying satire which has been sensibly portrayed by the veteran actor. Radhika Apte has not much to express as a shy and superstitious housewife, but she plays her part quite maturely.  Sonam Kapoor is refreshing as Pari and a delight to watch as her enthusiastic approach brings a freshness to the narrative.

Swanand Kirkire, along with R. Balki, maintain a cohesive and interesting screen play that never allows the audience to feel the repetitiveness of the social issues portrayed in the movie. The film has some foot tapping numbers, tuned by Amit Trivedi and the editing of Chandan Arora is slick and lives up to the expectations.

R. Balki had a difficult issue to handle in this movie which could have been repetitive and boring for the audience. However, he keeps the narrative alive with an interesting storyline with pinches of drama. The underlying love story of Laxmi and Pari has been depicted convincingly by the director with less drama but maximum emotions.  “Pad Man” definitely has its excesses but the smart and slick storytelling approach has made it a real winner and a thought provoking experience for the audience.

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