Twinkle Khanna, one of the producers of "Padman", said her actor-husband Akshay Kumar was not the first choice to play Arunachalam Muruganantham in the film. Directed by R Balki, "Padman" revolves around Muruganantham, a social activist from Tamil Nadu, who revolutionised the concept of menstrual hygiene in rural India by creating a low-cost sanitary napkin machine.