Social Media Roars with Applause to ‘Padman’ Trailer

New Delhi (Sputnik) — "Padman" is based on the real story of Arunachalam Muruganantham who revolutionized menstrual hygiene among India's rural women who had no access to the sanitary napkins and tampons available in the urban markets. Superstar Akshay Kumar is playing Padman in the movie while another critically acclaimed actress Radhika Apte plays his wife.

The story has been lifted from the bestselling book "Life of Lakshmi Prasad" which charts Arunachalam Muruganantham's journey from an illiterate villager to a social entrepreneur. According to the book, Arunachalam was taken aback when he discovered that his wife used dirty rags instead of the "unaffordable" sanitary napkins.

He then realized that most women who had to choose between meals for her children and her personal hygiene supplies must be indulging in similar risky habits. He then undertook the challenge of devising, producing and marketing cheap but hygienic sanitary pads.

In the process, he himself tried wearing and walking around in the sanitary towels he experimented with. This made him gain the ire of his family and relatives who deemed him a "pervert" and an "idiot." It is his unfaltering determination despite the huge hurdles that makes his story intriguing.

The YouTube trailer of the movie begins with the tagline, "Superhero hai ye pagla" which translates as "This Nutter is a Superhero" and it attracted more than 20 million views in two days. It has garnered immensely positive responses on other social media platforms as well.

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