Entertainment
Biggest commercial element in ‘Pad Man’ is Akshay: R. Balki (Lead, correcting para 2)
Mumbai, Feb 9 (IANS) Filmmaker R. Balki says the biggest commercial element in his latest film “Pad Man” is lead actor Akshay Kumar.
Balki attended a panel discussion ‘Say No To Stigma And Taboos Period’ on Thursday here.
Balki was asked if he wasn’t tempted to make the movie in a commercial zone.
“The biggest commercial element in ‘Pad Man’ is Akshay Kumar and he knew what he is getting into because I make a certain kind of films with a certain language of making it,” Balki said.
“I was very clear that this is not a film intended for people who know about it. This film is made to reach people who are not aware and who need to be sensitized. This includes both men and women. Therefore, the film has to be made in a certain language.
“If you see the emotion, setting and characters of the film, they are not in loud masala or slapstick zone but they are still commercial in the sense that they are expressing their emotions loudly as the language and message has to reach the people it is intended for,” he added.
Based on the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, “Pad Man” is the story of how one man came up with a revolutionary method of producing cost effective sanitary napkins and empowered thousands of women across the country in the process.
Praising the actor, Balki explained the similarities he saw between Akshay and Muruganantham.
“We all know Akshay Kumar is a huge star and a good actor, but I think he is magnificent actor. Most people make lot of fuss about theories of acting, schools of acting and intellectualized cinema, he doesn’t do anything that’s why he is lot like Muruganatham.
“He just keeps on doing it and he doesn’t talk about it. When an actor doing a biopic of a person, it is very tempting for an actor to study his body language and to see how he talks or walks but Akshay didn’t look any of that. He just listened to what kind of character and human Murugantham is.
“He captured soul of the character and actually portrayed Muruganatham in Akshay Kumar style, capturing the essence of the character and that very few actors can do. Most actors are fantastic at capturing body languages of people but he didn’t do that.”
Bollywood celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Aamir Khan, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Anushka Sharma among a host of others have accepted the “Pad Man” challenge, in which they have clicked their photographs while holding up on sanitary pad in their hands.
On the industry support to menstruation hygiene from industry people, Balki said: “Actually, they are not trying to promote our film. I think they all got a chance to promote a cause. Our film happens to be about that cause. Nobody is saying ‘Pad Man’ is coming. People are talking about sanitary pads more openly now. How often Bollywood gets chance to promote a cause unless it’s for a film?”
“Pad Man”, which released on Friday, is being produced by Twinkle Khanna and KriArj Entertainment.
–IANS
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Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
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The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
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The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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