December 20, 2017
Director R.Balki, who is all excited for his upcoming
film "Padman", says Akshay Kumar is the right man for the film, asking if not
for Akshay, why else would people watch the film?
Balki was present at
the song launch of the film along with actor Akshay, Kumar's wife and the film's
producer Twinkle Khanna, and actress Radhika Apte on Wednesday when he was asked
about casting the "Khiladi" actor for a film like "Padman", which is a biopic on
Arunachalam Muruganantham, the inventor of a low-cost sanitary pad making
machine in India.
"Akshay had asked me if I was sure he should play this
part in the film. The first thing that came to my mind was why else would people
watch the film.
"I think he is the right guy to play this role. And the
only thing we knew at the time was Muruganantham's life. I wasn't even sure how
to make it into a film at first," he said.
Balki, whose last directorial
"Ki & Ka" was critically acclaimed, also spoke about how the biopic process
went.
"I had to write it first to figure out whether the script would be
right for the film. After writing, once when we saw the complete script and how
it was going to come up then I was clear that this film can be made."
Actress-turned-author Twinkle said she didn't think there was anyone else apt to
direct the film, which is based on a short story from her book "The Legend Of
Lakshmi Prasad".
Asked why Balki was chosen as the director for the film,
Twinkle said: "When I came across Muruganantham's story, I wrote it down. When
we decided to take it across the board, across states, across religion, we knew
there are only two things that work in this country, one is cricket and other is
cinema.
"Cricketers are busy with their own pads (laughs), so we needed
cinema and there was only one name in my mind -- none other than him (Balki)."
"I have watched his films and I think he is a sensitive filmmaker. He
understands women, I think, partly because of his wonderful wife Gauri (Shinde),
whom I admire and I think she is a very good influence on him. And I don't think
there was anyone else apt for this aside from Balki," added Twinkle.
Akshay was asked if having matured as an actor, he is consciously moving towards
films with social issue mixed with quality entertainment in order to make people
think and entertain them at the same time.
"I am enjoying doing such
films and also at the same time I am enjoying commercial cinema.
"I am
not just doing social film, I am also doing "Houseful 4". I have all kinds of
movies. Yes, such stories do attract me and I enjoy it because it gives me
satisfaction as an actor and as a human being," said the "Airlift" actor.
"Padman" is a Hindi comedy-drama film directed by Balki, featuring Akshay,
Sonam Kapoor, and Radhika Apte.
Produced by KriArj Entertainment, Mrs.
Funnybones Movies, Hope Productions and Columbia Pictures, the film will be
released worldwide on January 26, 2018.