Pad Man (film)

Pad Man
The poster features Akshay Kumar dressed in white.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byR. Balki
Written by
Based onThe Legend of Lakshmi Prasad
by Twinkle Khanna
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyP. C. Sreeram
Edited byChandan Arora
Music byAmit Trivedi
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • February 9, 2018 (2018-02-09)
Running time
140 minutes
CountriesIndia
United States
LanguageHindi
Box office₹207.73 crore

Pad Man is a 2018 biographical comedy-drama film written and directed by R. Balki. A co-production between India and the United States, it stars Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, and Radhika Apte in the lead roles with an ensemble supporting cast.[1] The film is based on the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social activist and entrepreneur from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu who made low-cost sanitary pads for women in rural areas. His journey was chronicled by Twinkle Khanna in her fictional story The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad.[2][3]

The idea to adapt Murugan's life began in 2015 when Khanna, who served as a co-producer on the film, came across his story while doing a research for a column in The Times of India. Inspired and moved by his persistence and determination, she wrote about him in her book, The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad (2016).[4] In November 2017, Sony Pictures became the global distributor for the film.[5] Principal photography commenced on 14 March.[6] The majority of the film was shot in the small town of Maheshwar beside the Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh. After filming ended in India, the team travelled to New York City where pivotal scenes were filmed at the Times Square and Lincoln Center,[4] as well as at the United Nations headquarters. Muruganantham worked closely with R. Balki, Kumar and Khanna on set in India, making sure every detail was accurate from the way he built his machine, to how to operate it, even his own posture.[4]

Pad Man was initially scheduled to open in cinemas on 25 January 2018, during Republic Day.[7] The film was ultimately released theatrically in India on 9 February 2018, thus becoming the first Hindi film to premiere at the Russia box office on its original date.[8][9] Upon release, it was a critical and commercial success and performed well especially in India and China, with a worldwide gross of ₹207.73 crore. It won the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues.[10]

  1. ^ "Cricketer Dwayne Bravo meets 'Padman' Arunachalam Muruganantham in Coimbatore". www.thenewsminute.com. 4 July 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  2. ^ "Meet the real PadMan – Arunachalam Muruganantham". The Indian Express. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  3. ^ Mazumder, Jayeeta. "Padman: The un-caped hero in Twinkle Khanna's book". T2 Online. Archived from the original on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference news was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cain, Rob. "Hollywood's Sony Pictures Joins Akshay Kumar's 'Padman' As Global Distributor". Forbes. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  6. ^ "SEE PIC: Akshay begins shooting for Padman, wife Twinkle joins him on the sets". India Today. 14 March 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
  7. ^ "Akshay Kumar's Pad Man to now release on January 25". Deccan Chronicle. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference 9feb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Kumar, Akshay [@akshaykumar] (6 February 2018). "Happy to share, our film #PadMan becomes the first Bollywood film to be released in Russia on the same day and date. So Russia, see you at the movies on 9th February, 2018! @padmanthefilm @SonyPicsIndia @radhika_apte @mrsfunnybones @SonyPicsIndia @kriarj #RBalki" (Tweet). Retrieved 1 March 2018 – via Twitter.
  10. ^ "The Man Who Inspired A Menstrual Pad Movie". NPR.org. Retrieved 22 July 2019.