The Irony Of Welcoming PadMan The Same Week We Said Goodbye To Condom Ads

After Toilet Ek Prem Katha, in which Akshay Kumar postures earnestly about scatological hygiene and the burning need for lavatories in every home, he is back with PadMan, the trailer of which released today. PadMan is the story of India's menstrual superhero - Arunachalam Muruganantham - the social entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu whose low-cost sanitary napkin-making machine has significantly brought down the cost of sanitary hygiene in rural areas. Muruganantham's Jayaashree Industries has 4,800 manufacturing units installed in 23 states, providing access to sanitary napkins to 12 to 14 million women in the country. His invention earned him a place in Time's 100 Most Influential People In The World List in 2014 and a Padma Shri in 2016.

When Amitabh Bachchan, in the film's trailer, jokingly calls India's Padman the desi counterpart to America's Superman, Spiderman and others, it's not exactly untrue. Considering that a significant percentage of the population of our country thinks of menstruation as dirty and impure; and talks about this perfectly normal, cyclical biological fact in hushed tones as if it was a precious national secret to be guarded with one's life and honour; the fact that a man from a tiny corner of the country was able to battle the ridicule, anger and ostracisation of his people to create something that has literally changed the lives of millions of vulnerable girls and women is undoubtedly extraordinary. It truly does make one believe that superheroes are hidden in all corners of the world, and they don't always come in skin-tight costumes and washboard abs. 

GIF courtesy: YouTube

It is ironical the trailer of a movie that revolves around a subject as taboo as menstruation is releasing in the same week that condom ads were deemed "indecent/inappropriate for viewing by children". One doesn't need statistics to know (a quick look at every major city - burgeoning with people it doesn't know where to house, will suffice) that as a country, India needs to use more condoms, not less - given our 1.3 billion-strong population, and growing at a rapid pace. But why should practical concerns like long-term welfare and the constant looming threat of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections come in the way of our centuries-old cultural prudishness and moral compunctions? When self-appointed custodians of India's morality speak, we quickly rush to toe the line.

Given the film industry's contentious relationship with censorship, and its many, many run-ins with the Central Bureau Of Film Certification (CBFC) over the matter of freedom of artistic expression in recent times, I can't wait to see how PadMan tackles the subject of menstruation - possibly the only topic in our country that rivals sex, when it comes to how much it embarrasses people to speak about it.

I hope the makers of this film - it is directed by R Balki and produced by Twinkle Khanna - don't squander this wonderful opportunity to shine a light on the uncomfortable truths and stories that lurk behind India's apathy towards menstrual hygiene. I hope that somewhere, among all of Akshay's broken English and Sonam Kapoor's (she plays a social worker who helps Padman in his noble pursuits) misty-eyed shots, they manage to tell at least a few stories of the women who died of easily avoidable infections because they tried to use sand bags, dung cakes and dirty rags to soak the blood they were too ashamed to talk about. The stories of the 88% of the women of our country who still don't use sanitary napkins, most of whom can simply not afford to, even today. Of all those women who can afford it, but won't. Because who wants to suffer the indignity of the taunting sniggers of men standing by when they ask for pads at the neighbourhood chemist's shop?

If nothing else, at the very least, I hope that for once, just once, we get to see some blood and not the cute, unthreatening blob of blue we're invariably subjected to while talking about periods.