Dharamshala: Documentary filmmaker Amit Virmani found his perfect Bollywood entertainer in the remarkable story of a man working towards making sanitary pads affordable for women in India.
His ‘Menstrual Man’ is based on the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a school dropout, who realised that majority of women cannot afford sanitary pads and decided to do something about it. “It is a remarkable story… I think Karan Johar would probably have to hire people to write and I found it already written for me.
It is the perfect Bollywood script for me,” Virmani said on the sidelines of Dharamshala International Film Festival.
The movie shows how Muruganantham, with limited resources at disposal, empowered many poor Indian women with access to both basic feminine hygiene and livelihood.
On why he chose the title ‘Menstrual Man’, Virmani said he was warned that the title may drive away my potential audience.
“My point is that in India people don’t talk about menstruation, it’s a taboo and if I am going to worry about that people in affluent countries are going to stay away from it because of the name, then I become a hypocrite. I could call it Pizza man but 20 seconds into the film and you would know what it is about.”
The movie was screened at DIFF here and the Singapore-based filmmaker said he is soon going to show it in many Indian schools. “We are talking with Independent Television Service (ITVS) to show these films in girls schools here… They are planning something in India and will roll it out soon. We are showing it in Singapore with three-four girls schools. We did impromptu screening in New York too and many other places.”
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