The New Year may start on a solid note with Padman. The teaser of the film was to come this week with Padmavati and the trailer later but it is the trailer which does the trick. The film is based on the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu who invented low cost sanitary pads. Now if one was to go by this the film would hardly evoke much interest among the theater going audience but from the trailer the film has that humour which has the potential to work across India.  The film is based on a real character but it is not a biopic and is not based in Tamil Nadu but in a picturesque small town of Madhya Pradesh where again Akshay Kumar plays the common middle class man ala Jolly LLB 2 and Toilet Ek Prem Katha. This change makes the film much more acceptable to the Hindi audience.

The film maybe the social relevant type but is the commercial aspects like the humour and love story which is going to gain traction with the audience. The film visually looks better than Jolly LLB 2 and Toilet Ek Prem Katha. Padman is not a huge starter at the box office as there is no action and the production values are not grand but there is the advantage of the national holiday on release which is a huge plus for Padman. The film is eventually a content film which normally picks up on Friday evening but here it will get a much bigger audience on day one due to the holiday which will be a huge boost especially if reports come out good.

The film is directed by R. Balki who does not have the best record with feeble films like Cheeni Kum, Paa and Ki & Ka and these are the ones which managed okay business. This one does not like a R. Balki film from any angle as does not have that limited urban appeal which all his previous films have had. The likes of Paa and Ki & Ka could not not find the larger audience due to weak portrayal of emotions (fake as per the audience is probably the correct word) and if here the emotions work there will be no stopping this film for a strong run with the family audiences. Normally with Balki you would not expect much in this case but as the trailer looks nothing like a Balki film then it also gives hopes that the emotions and storytelling will not be like Paa or Ki & Ka.