Are Sharib Hashmi’s Phullu and Akshay Kumar’s PadMan similar?

Oh, it happened again! The last time Bollywood rushed to make movies based on similar plot and storyline was on Shahid Bhagat Singh. And this time Bollywood prep to present stories that tackle sensitive but should be a debatable topic of the menstrual cycle and women hygiene measures in India. Although by the poster, they might seem similar films but the approach on story-telling and the plotline have way more differences than anyone can judge.

R. Balki ’s PadMan is based on the story of Arunachalam Muruganatham, a middle-aged man turned entrepreneur, who tackled basic problem faced by many low-wage income women in India by making sanitary pads available at the cheapest cost possible without compromising its quality. And since it based on real story and character, filmmakers were bound to make their adaptation of the same story.

Whereas, Phullu is about a guy in the rural area, ne'er-do-well in most part of life, ignorant about women anatomy and complications and his journey or realisation of how women go through in a state of hormonal changes and menstrual cycle and so on.

In one corner, Twinkle Khanna jumped in to produce PadMan, under her Mrs. Funnybones Movies production house, who roped Akshay Kumar to play protagonist character along with Radhika Apte and Sonam Kapoor in supporting role. In the other corner, far from being star-studded, Director Abhishek Saxena cast Phullu features Filmistaan fame Sharib Hashmi to play Phullu’s role and supporting cast including Nutan Surya, Jyoti Sethi and Inaamulhaq.

If we talk more about ascetics, the difference is much clear. PadMan is an inspirational story told in a fresh manner, like all R. Balki films. And Phullu is more educational in aspect, without being preachy, to the ignorant men.

As for now, Phullu is in the lead as it is releasing on 16th June and PadMan on 21st July 2017, it would be interesting to see who wins the masses.