Akshay Kumar takes Padman to United Nations

Given that their outing delves into the pressing concern of menstrual hygiene for women in rural India, makers of Padman were able to seamlessly coerce authorities at the United Nations to permit them filming rights at their headquarters. The development implies that the Akshay Kumar-starrer will become only the second Hindi film to bag the opportunity.

Akshay Kumar

A production hand tells mid-day that the team will jet off to Manhattan later this week to shoot for the final schedule at the headquarters in Turtle Bay. "We procured permissions to shoot a few days ago. This is the second Hindi film, after Half Girlfriend, to be shot there," an insider says. The unit will utilize the opportunity to film the climax scene at the venue. "The scene will mostly showcase the protagonist delivering an emotional lecture at a UN event. The pivotal subject was reason enough for authorities to readily come on board at a short notice."

The cast and crew, we hear, will not be permitted to use their phones while shooting. They have also been allotted only six hours each day over the two week-long schedule, and will be permitted access at a specific section that has been cordoned off for them.

Twinkle Khanna's debut production puts the spotlight on social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham, who created a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine for less-privileged women of the country. Leading man Kumar will be accompanied by Sonam Kapoor, who recently wrapped up Veere Di Wedding, for the sequence.

Although the script has been tactfully crafted to reflect Muruganantham's life, the biopic has been adequately commercialised and fictionalised for the big screen. It is being helmed by R Balki. In an interview to mid-day, Kumar, whose last outing touched upon the subject of open defecation, expressed perplexity at the tendency to avoid discussion around menstrual hygiene.