After his successful ‘Toilet-Ek Prem Katha’ , the rebel-actor Akshay Kumar will be seen in yet another entertaining social issues-centric movie ‘Padman’ which sensitively deals in the prolific use of locally made low-priced sanitary pads and the taboo theme of menstrual hygiene. The maverick movie, co-produced by author-wife Twinkle Khanna and directed by R.Balki is coincidentally being released on the historic Republic Day.
As usual Twinkle came up with her wry yet witty humour. Explaining her decision to get director Balki on board, Mrs. Funnybones ( as she is nicknamed) said, “So once I came across Muruganantham’s real-life story, we decided that in order to reach across all states and religions, there are only two things which work in this country- one is cricket and the other cinema.
Now, cricketers have their own ‘pads’ and they are busy with that (laughs), so we needed cinema. And there was only one name which actually came to my mind, there were no other contenders, there was just Balki who is a sensitive filmmaker,” shrugged the outspoken Twinkle ( aka Tina) who also declared that Akshay Kumar was “not her first choice to play the hero”. She tactfully avoided ‘revealing’ who were the hero-options she had in mind.
When asked if she ever thought of playing Akshay’s on-screen wife in this movie, she quipped, “Mela dilon ka ‘….. I guess I am better off behind the camera !”. For those not in the know, Twinkle hinted at her own movie ‘Mela’ (2000), which had not done well at the box-office. The leading lady in ‘Padman’ is played by the hugely talented Radhika Apte, known for her bohemian roles. Curiously enough, the suave Akshay who now sports a classy close-cropped salt ’n’ pepper stubble hair style said he ‘had no hang-ups exposing his streaks of grey-hairs’. Unlike most other senior stars who ‘dye’ their hair to conceal their age.