Pad Man is just a 2018 Bollywood drama film directed and written by R. Balki, starring Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, as well as Radhika Apte. Pad Man was premiered in theatres on February 9, 2018, and was inspired by the life of social activist Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu, whose journey was recorded by Twinkle Khanna in her fictitious narrative The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad. The movie was a critical and economic success, collecting 207.73 crores worldwide, making it the ninth highest-grossing Bollywood movie of 2018.
Pad Man won the prize for Best Movie on Other Social Issues at the 66th National Film Awards. Kumar’s performance inside the movie was acclaimed by critics, and he was nominated for a Best Actor award at the 64th Filmfare Awards.
The narrative begins with Lakshmikant “Lakshmi” Chauhan (Akshay Kumar) and Gayatri Chauhan’s marriage (Radhika Apte). Laxmi adores his wife and would go to great lengths to provide her comfort and pleasure. Due to his lack of understanding on the issue, Laxmi is taken off guard when Gayatri is briefly exiled from the family during her menstrual cycles.
When he saw Gayatri using an unsanitary cloth during her period, he felt concerned. Gayatri advises him not to become involved in this feminine matter. Laxmi is undeterred, and he purchases some expensive sanitary pads for his wife. Gayatri advises him to return it because using such expensive napkins implies saving money on milk. Laxmi is depressed and goes to work when one of her coworkers is hurt. Despite the others calling the injury “impure,” he applies a pad to it right away. Laxmi’s fast thinking is praised by the doctor, who claims that it is the safest way to halt the bleeding.
Excited, Laxmi goes out and gets some cotton, fabric, and glue to construct a makeshift pad that he believes is a superior substitute for the expensive one.
Gayatri uses it, but it doesn’t work, so she warns Laxmi not to meddle in women’s affairs again. Laxmi attempts to manufacture a pad once again and delivers it to a female medical student who wishes to assist him but is discouraged by her companions. To make matters worse, his wife suspects him of having an affair as a result of his encounter with the student. Laxmi attempts to offer his sister pads, which causes her in-laws to be embarrassed.
He then tries it on himself by connecting a balloon filled with goat blood to his trousers, which results in his getting blood all over his pants in public, humiliating him. The entire town labels him “a guy of loose morals” as a result of this behaviour. Gayatri is taken away by Gayatri’s brothers, and Laxmi chooses to depart, vowing to end the taboo around menstruation.
Laxmi enrols at a college to study the materials used in sanitary napkins after discovering that cellulose fibre is more absorbent than cotton in sanitary pads. He works as a manservant at a professor’s house for money and shelter.
The professor’s son shows him how to use the Internet and assists him in gathering information. The professor is perplexed by Laxmi’s behaviour and shows him films of multimillion-dollar pad-making machines to derail his plans. It has the opposite effect: Laxmi is inspired to build his own pad-making machine as a result of it. He borrows money and makes a good pad, but he doesn’t have someone to test it. He eventually meets Pari Walia (Sonam Kapoor), a contemporary, educated city lady, and gives her a pad. She claims it’s just like a regular pad when he asks for input. Laxmi’s happiness has no boundaries, and he phones Gayatri to inform her.
Gayatri is irritated by his fixation with menstruation, and her brother tells him to go.
Laxmi’s potential is recognised by Pari, who invites him to an invention expo in Delhi. Laxmi’s creation is named “Life-Changing Innovation of the Year,” and he rises to prominence, but the villagers mock him when they realise the nature of his innovation. Pari assists a despondent Laxmi in selling his pads to rural women, who subsequently join him in his business. Laxmi and Pari go from village to village, developing low-cost pad-manufacturing machinery, establishing tiny pad-manufacturing enterprises, and offering employment and pads for sale to rural women.
He gets invited to deliver a lecture at UNICEF in New York. He receives the Padma Shri when he returns home. Pari develops affection for him, which causes Laxmi to be conflicted because he has feelings for her as well. Laxmi tells her she helped make him a new man, so she takes a step back for his happiness. In his village, Laxmi is greeted like a hero. Laxmi and Gayatri are reunited at the end of the movie, and Laxmi continues to succeed in his undertakings.
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