It's known that Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar's upcoming film Padman is based on the life of Arunachalam Murugunathan, a social entrepreneur from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The film, directed by R Balki will mark the maiden production venture of Mrs Funnybones, owned by Akshay Kumar's wife and actress-turned-columnist Twinkle Khanna. Padman stars Radhika Apte and Sonam Kapoor in female lead roles.

In a recent interview, R Balki had stated that Akshay Kumar offered him to make Padman with any other actor in lead role of Arunachalam Muruganantham. However, he revealed that he drafted the story with the Bollywood superstar in lead role.

R Balki said:

Akshay actually told me I could choose any actor I want. But I know the kind of actor he is and I felt that he was a perfect fit for what I was writing. Actually, let me rephrase that – I thought I knew what kind of an actor he is. I was quite shocked when he performed. As an actor, Akshay Kumar is absolutely unbelievable. Forget the star, forget the national icon image associated with him, forget everything – just as an actor, his performing abilities are remarkable".

Arunachalam Murugunathan is the inventor of a low-cost sanitary pad making machine and has innovated grass-roots mechanisms for generating awareness about traditional unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural India. His mini-machines, which can manufacture sanitary pads for less than a third of the cost of commercial pads, have been installed in 23 of the 29 states of India. He is currently planning to expand the production of these machines to 106 nations.