\'padman\': new bollywood \'superhero\' film tackles taboo of menstrual hygiene

NEW DELHI —
In very conservative India, this is a scenario that is unlikely to happen: a very popular Bollywood male star grinned as he lifted the pads and talked about menstrual hygiene.
But that\'s exactly what action hero Akshay Kumar did when he was promoting Friday\'s movie \"Padman.
Kumar, who plays the leading role of a man, found that his wife had no access to cheap sanitary napkins in a small town in southern India and began to make sanitary napkins.
Topics of menstruation and menstrual hygiene are rarely discussed publicly in Indian families.
In pharmacies and department stores, tampon and tampon are treated the same as condoms --
They are individually packed in black plastic bags on their hands and handed over to customers just to avoid their embarrassment.
In many families, women are prohibited from entering temples and religious ceremonies, as well as from cooking or entering the kitchen during menstrual periods.
Therefore, Kumar and his film are undoubtedly breaking ground in lifting the layers of taboos.
\"Yes, these are mats.
Yes, they belong to these amazing women.
Yes, they would be happy to lend me one so that I can stand with them to support this much-needed initiative, the upcoming Bollywood actor Siddhartha marhorra posted a photo on Twitter on Friday, in the photo, he was surrounded by female fans when he lifted the sanitary napkin.
Malhotra is not the only mainstream star to talk about menstruation.
Dozens of other Bollywood actors and actresses posted photos of themselves holding sanitary napkins on Twitter.
In India, radio talk shows have been discussing the film and the stigma associated with the subject.
Kumar, 50, wrote on his movie Twitter: \"I think this is Padman\'s biggest achievement . . . . . . Men and women break the taboo . \".
The film is loosely based on the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who invented a machine that makes sanitary napkins at a fraction of the cost of most commercial products, when he found out that his wife was forced to use rags and newspapers during this time.
Kumar\'s wife, novelist
Time actress Twinkle Khanna wrote a book about the life of Muruganantham, prompting her husband to film it.