Akshay To Host Special Screening Of Padman For Modi, Smriti

Akshay Kumar's social drama Padman is fast becoming a passion project for the superstar. Considering the film addresses the issue of menstrual hygiene - a topic unfortunately taboo in India - the actor wants the film to have a far-reaching impact. It is with this intent that he is hosting a special screening of the film for Information and Broadcasting minister, Smriti Irani today - a day after he hosted one for Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani. It has been learnt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi too will join the screening if his schedule permits."

A source from the film's production unit reveals that after the screening, Kumar will discuss the possibility of making short educational videos on menstrual hygiene. The source informs, "Akshay met up with the PM yesterday. Today's screening has been arranged for a specific reason. After the screening, Akshay will stress on how the film's message needs to reach the larger population and will pitch the idea of making educational videos for Doordarshan.

If the project is greenlit by the PM and Irani, the film's team will make five short videos of two minutes each. Targeted at the rural population, the videos, directed by Pad Man director R Balki, will see Kumar encouraging women to use sanitary napkins and promote women's health.

The actor will be joined by Arunachalam Muruganantham, the social entrepreneur on whom the film is based, at the screening. The source adds that Muruganantham will raise the issue of GST and luxury tax levied on sanitary napkins, with the ministers. "Citing studies which prove that girls in villages drop out of school when they hit puberty, they will bat for napkins to be made available free of cost or at subsidised rates."