Unicef, Hope Foundation, and many others collaborated in a summit for Akshay Kumar’s latest release, PadMan. The film’s producer Twinkle Khanna and director R. Balki were present at the event. During the course of their interaction with the media, the two shared few a stories and experiences of making this film.

Balki who went on to the address the summit first talked about how entertainment-education is the most fruitful means of all. He said, “The reason I took it up is that, of course, Arunachalam Muruganatham's life is fascinating, but I really wanted to write a film that has a pad at its center. You will never get an opportunity like that. I really believe that is the most powerful form of education because entertainment is something we all want in life and if you want to be educated it is through entertainment.”

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The director then shared an incident where the film was screened to 400 Tamil speaking high school girls. He said they were giggling at the start when they found a pad on their seats but came out happy and chirpy when saw the film. They were open to discussions on sanitary napkins and that, he calls a success.

PadMan is the Indian film which talks about a global issue. It is also the first film to see the light of the day in many countries where Indian cinema hasn’t been before. He said, “We have called ourselves regressive and not going forward and we can’t do this in India. But funnily enough, we are the first country in the world who did this. This a really proud moment for all of us.”

Leaving on that note, it was Twinkle who joined the stage next. She shared quite a few insights on the conditions of women and the country. “PadMan, I am hoping, is more than a movie, it is part of a movement. Where women are no longer held back embarrassed by their biology. Where commercials stop showing blue liquid on sanitary napkins instead of red. Where 80% of women who were using rags are able to use hygienic products in their days of menstruation. And we can’t promise all our school girls iPads, unfortunately, we can give them sanitary pads that they need.” She further added, “I am really glad to see the movie start a collective consciousness and a conversation about menstrual health and menstruation.”

The producer also addressed a few incidents that took place after the trailer release. Her friends texted her telling how their 8 and 11-year-old sons were eager to watch the movie. One of her friends even fought with her husband saying, “it’s okay If we don’t watch Padmaavat we will watch PadMan.”

Well, we hope the movement soon gains momentum and the film becomes a bigger success. PadMan, released on February 9th and is already a box-office hit.