Padman Review

Akshay Kumar is definitely on a roll, and very strategically acting in films where they are either patriotic or have a message. Padman is a film derived from a very inspiring person in Tamil Nadu – Arunachalam Murugananthamwho grew from a school dropout to a padmashri award winner because of his innovation and initiative in manufacturing low cost sanitary pads, the topic of which itself is a taboo even Today.

LakshmikantChauhan (Akshay Kumar) lives in a small town in Madhya Pradesh along with his newly married wife Gayatri(Radhika Apte) and a mother and two college going sisters. Gayatri using a dirty cloth repeatedly during her periods bothers him as he learns that using such a cloth would pose a threat to her health. However, Gayatri refuses to wear pads as the packet costs 55rs. She continues to wear the cloth. Lakshmi is determined to ensure her good health, so he decides to make pads on his own, by reverse engineering a CareFree pads packet. In one incident, he gifts a girl who just reaches her puberty a pack of his handmade pads, but it comes into light in the whole Mohalla. This creates a furor and he is outcasted by his family and the people of the village. His wife also gets separated. Lakshmi decides to exit the village, and is hellbent in making a pad that his wife would comfortably use. The rest of the fil is about how he succeeds in making all his people crowd and how he ends up being a padmashree recipient.

R. Balkiseemed to be a good choice for such a subject. He could deal even subject like Paa also with humour. This wouldn’t have been much a deal, as the story is already there. Balki could get the first half pitch perfect, but the interval comes pretty soon. The second half seemed bit longer and probably could have wrapped up a tad earlier. Sinam Kapoor’s role seemed fictitious and the kiss was totally unnecessary, as there was a nice equation that got set between those characters. Very platonic and pure. Also, looking at their backgrounds and characters, the kiss and the love angle seemed totally artificial. The setup in Madhya Pradesh was a bit disappointing because it’s a genuine real story that happened in Tamil Nadu, so it should have been rather setup in TN. The UN speech was way below the mark. It could have been the best scene of the film, had it been written well.

Akshay Kumar was indeed flawless in the role of Lakshmikant.He enacted the grit really well. Sonam Kapoor was her usual, with not much effectiveness. On the other hand, we have the super talented Radhika Apte, who was excellent when it came to expressing the disgust, the discomfort and the inhibitions. She was probably a level more effective than Akshay Kumar. Amitabh makes a cameo which is not surprising because it’s a BaLki movie (remember Ki and Ka).

All in all, Padmandefinitely deserves a watch for the taboo it tries to remove.