Filmmaker R Balki, who made a film Pad Man on the prohibitive pricing of sanitary napkins which prevents the economically weak sections of women from using them, is happy to hear that the Government has decided to do away with the GST for sanitary pads.
“It is a victory for people like Arunachalam Muruganantham (on whose life the film Pad Man is based) who has dedicated his life to female hygiene and its subversion for economic reasons. He is the happiest person today. As for me, I am grateful if Pad Man helped carry the movement forward. When we made Pad Man we wanted to start a dialogue on the sanitary pad and female hygiene. The film succeeded in doing that. All of us in the Pad Man team are grateful for the opportunity to use cinema as a tool for something more than entertainment,” says Balki.
Balki feels Pad Man has started a debate. “Men are no longer shy of addressing the issue of the PMS. I am not saying our film has broken the taboo. But at least we put that masculine awkwardness out there and tackled it.” Balki’s next film would also address an important issue. “I can’t make a film that is purely entertainment,” he confesses.
