I did not have the heart to turn down Akshay and Twinkle: Padman' Muruganantham

Mumbai: On January 1, Twinkle Khanna shared the poster of her first home production movie, ‘Padman’, on social media, which will be based on one of our country’s inventive minds, Padma Shri Arunachalam Muruganantham. But guess what? The revolutionary man had never heard about Twinkle Khanna or Akshay Kumar before giving them the story rights.

Muruganantham, who brought change in the field of sanitary napkins, shared his experiences with Mid-Day, “A girl called Twinkle (Khanna) had been chasing me endlessly for rights. She tracked my every move. She desperately tried to reach me even when I was in Malaysia and the US. She finally caught me in London. My friends were curious about why Twinkle would want to meet me. It was only then that I learnt she is Rajesh Khanna's daughter. I remember telling her, 'Akshay Kumar has also been trying to get me for rights'. She laughed and said, 'Yes, he is my husband'."

Muruganantham had rarely watched Hindi films and wanted his story to be told on a global platform, which is why he was hesitant on giving the rights to anyone in India. But after meeting Twinkle and Akshay, he changed his mind and praised the two stars for their calm nature.

He said, “I wanted this story to reach the world. But, I didn't have the heart to turn down Akshay and Twinkle. I am proud that for the first time in world cinema history, a mainstream male star will talk about menstruation and sanitary napkins in a full feature length Hindi movie. The story will be set in India's heartland, but the theme is universal. In the '90s, it was taboo to talk about periods; women would not even talk to their husbands about it. Now, with this film, we are taking the debate to the public to talk about female personal hygiene.”