Phullu, Hindi slang for a man who spends a great deal of time with women, is an apt title for a movie about a handyman who strives to improve the standards of menstrual hygiene in his village.

The June 16 release Phullu is not based on Arunachalam Muruganantham, the Coimbatore inventor of low-cost sanitary pads, director Abhishek Saxena told Scroll.in. Muruganantham’s achievements have inspired the biopic Padman. Directed by R Balki, the film stars Akshay Kumar and will be released in 2018.

Saxena’s movie is set in the villages of Uttar Pradesh and stars Sharib Ali Hashmi in the lead role. Saxena made his big screen debut in the comedy Patiala Dreamz (2014). Phullu is a fictional tale spiced with real-life experiences and humour, he said in an interview.

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Is ‘Phullu’ based on Arunachalam Muruganantham?
Though we were aware of Arunachalam Muruganantham’s story of making low-cost sanitary pads, we found out that there were many other people like him who have taken similar initiatives in places like Surat and particularly, Mathura. So we started talking to these people and got to know the intricacies, which we used in the film.

This film is a fictional story. It has been shot in Koila Alipur in Mathura district.

How different will ‘Phullu’ be from ‘Padman’?
Padman is a success story woven around Arunachalam Muruganantham. But Phullu is a fictional drama about menstrual hygiene and awareness. It is not a success story. While there is uproar over the taxation of menstrual hygiene products, it is important to realise that in more than 60% of villages in the country, women don’t even know what a sanitary pad is. And even if they do know, they think it is the urban woman’s luxury.

Phullu says in the trailer, ‘If I leave the village, who will take care of the women?’ What is his character about?
Phullu’s character is very caring. He lives in a village that comprises women and the aged. He is the only young man in the village who runs errands for the women and buys them products to meet their basic needs from the city.

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What motivated you to make a movie about menstrual hygiene?
I remember going to a local pharmacy in Mumbai two years ago to purchase sanitary napkins. When the chemist handed over the carefully wrapped product in a newspaper, I was taken aback. That was my first time buying the product, and I asked the chemist the reason behind this. He said, “Jo chalta aa raha hai, wo chalta aa raha hai (This has been going on forever). That is when I decided to make a film, if not on the same lines, but in a larger perspective.

How did you convince producers to fund your film?
I finished writing the script by 2015 and began pitching it to producers. Most of them were hesitant. People from my team themselves felt a little uncomfortable with the topic. But I just had to make the film. Anmol Kapoor, one of the co-producers, was thrilled by the idea and took up the project.

We have consciously framed the characters to be light-hearted and humourous so that the film doesn’t end up taking a preachy tone.

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What were the challenges you faced during filming?
The villagers in Mathura were initially against the subject, which openly dealt with a sensitive topic. Most of them didn’t even know about menstrual hygiene products. Even when we sat them down and spoke to them about the importance of menstrual hygiene, they refused to listen to us or use the sanitary pads that we distributed to them. We have incorporated their conversations and reactions in the film.

Why is menstrual hygiene still stigmatised in India?
As children, we are deliberately not educated about menstrual hygiene by our parents. Only after we grow up do we understand its necessity. Only in college did I first get to know about sanitary pads. If this is the case with cities, think about the many villages in the country. That is what we have tried to emphasise through this film.