Revisiting “Pad Man”

Pad Man is a film that was released in 2018; I remember watching it when it was released, but it wasn’t until I started The Elea Project that I truly understood the significance of the film. 

According to an article published in Nature India, Pad Man is a fictionalized biopic of sanitary pad innovator Arunachalam Muruganantham.

The film centers on the unlikely story of Muruganantham, who was concerned at his wife’s usage of rags for menstrual hygiene, and how he overcame the problem independently. He began by experimenting with cotton and cellulose fiber materials in a process known as reverse engineering. In terms of testing his prototype, Muruganantham had to use the help of his wife. However, his work was symbolic of more than just engineering innovation; rather, it was a major step in breaking a major taboo on a highly unspoken topic. Most people he approached to try his prototype often declined, thinking he had gone mad. As a last resort, Muruganantham wore a pad and used a deflated football filled with goat’s blood that fitted with a tube. It ultimately took him 6 years to isolate cellulose as the core adsorbing medium. 

Muruganantham did not just stop there. Over the past few years, he has been working diligently to travel across villages in India - first selling his sanitary pads and then setting up self-sustaining pad-making units with community partners. He has established 2500 such centers in India, among a dozen other countries. 

I am quite grateful for the release of this film as, upon reflection, it has not only invigorated my work in menstrual justice but also has given the notion of grassroots innovation a much more significant meaning. For his work, the trailblazer has received acclaim both nationally and internationally. 

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/nindia.2018.26