Phullu
Phullu is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Abhishek Saxena, centering on an uneducated, jobless villager who confronts menstrual hygiene challenges in rural India by developing low-cost sanitary napkins.[1] The protagonist, portrayed by Sharib Ali Hashmi, resides with his mother and sister in a small town, initially known for idleness until a visit to the city exposes him to the inconveniences and stigmas associated with women's menstruation, prompting him to innovate using available resources like cloth scraps.[1] Co-starring Jyotii Sethi and Nutan Surya, the film underscores the lack of affordable, clean menstrual products in underserved areas and the cultural barriers to open discussion, aiming to raise awareness through Phullu's personal mission to empower local women.[2] Despite addressing a pressing public health issue—evidenced by empirical data on limited access to sanitary products in rural settings leading to health risks—the movie garnered mixed reception, with an IMDb rating of 6.1/10 from limited votes and critiques noting its good intentions overshadowed by creaky execution and failure to fully engage audiences.[1][3] Released prior to similar-themed films like PadMan, Phullu highlights ongoing efforts to destigmatize menstruation but did not achieve comparable commercial or critical success.[4]Production
Development and Inspiration
Phullu was conceived by director Abhishek Saxena as a fictional narrative to highlight menstrual hygiene challenges in rural India, drawing from his personal encounters with societal taboos around menstruation, such as family avoidance of related television advertisements during his childhood and conversations with his wife about women's experiences.[5] Saxena, transitioning from his earlier Punjabi film London Dreamz, developed the project amid initial script rejections due to its sensitive topic, ultimately securing producer backing to emphasize education on sanitary napkin use over traditional cloth methods, supported by input from medical professionals.[5][6] The film's core inspiration stems from the real-world innovations of Arunachalam Muruganantham, an entrepreneur who engineered low-cost sanitary pads to address affordability and access barriers for women in impoverished areas, though Phullu fictionalizes this into a village-centric story of stigma confrontation rather than a direct biography.[7][8] Unlike the later film Padman, which chronicles Muruganantham's personal triumphs as a biopic derived from Twinkle Khanna's writings, Phullu, scripted by Shaheen Iqbal, prioritizes grassroots awareness and cultural myths, aiming to provoke policy discussions like eliminating taxes on sanitary products to enhance rural hygiene—where fewer than 12% of women had access to hygienic options as of 2011 surveys.[6][5][8] Saxena's intent focused on destigmatizing open conversations about menstruation to foster behavioral change, though the film's adult certification limited its reach to younger rural audiences, underscoring challenges in disseminating such messages through cinema.[8]Casting and Filming
Sharib Hashmi was cast in the titular role of Phullu, a determined rural inventor addressing menstrual hygiene challenges in his village.[1] Jyoti Sethi portrayed Bigni, Phullu's wife, while Nutan Surya played Amma, his mother, with supporting roles filled by actors including Trisha Kale as Tara and Inaamulhaq in a guest appearance.[9] The ensemble featured relatively unknown performers suited to the film's independent production scale, emphasizing authentic rural characterizations over star power.[10] Filming occurred primarily in the village of Koila Alipur near Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, capturing unpolished rural settings to underscore the story's grounded realism.[11] Principal photography wrapped in a compressed schedule, with the crew working extended days to complete shoots efficiently amid logistical constraints typical of low-budget Hindi cinema.[11] Director Abhishek Saxena prioritized natural locations to avoid stylized Bollywood tropes, aligning with the narrative's focus on everyday village life and social taboos.[3]Technical and Creative Choices
The film's creative direction under Abhishek Saxena emphasized a comedy-drama structure to demystify menstrual taboos, blending rustic humor with the protagonist's earnest quest for affordable sanitary solutions, thereby normalizing the subject within a mainstream Hindi narrative framework.[12] This approach drew from the real-life innovations of Arunachalam Muruganantham but localized the story to a Hindi-speaking village context, prioritizing accessibility over documentary-style realism to engage rural and urban audiences alike.[3] Saxena's debut feature opted for a virile, heterosexual lead character whose post-marital discovery of menstruation drives the plot, using domestic intimacy as a narrative trigger to underscore male involvement in women's health issues without overt didacticism.[12] Technically, the film was shot in color at 24 frames per second with an anamorphic aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1, facilitating wide rural landscapes that reinforced the isolated village milieu.[13] Cinematographer Simarjit Singh Suman employed hand-held techniques for close-up interactions, aiming to capture unpolished authenticity in interpersonal scenes, though this resulted in inconsistent visual stability critiqued as subpar by reviewers.[14] Editing by Rohit Mhatre maintained a runtime of 96 minutes, focusing on sequential progression from personal awakening to community impact, but suffered from protracted exposition that diluted momentum.[15] The soundtrack, composed by Vickky Aggarwal with background score by Troy Arif, integrated folk-infused tracks such as "Manmatanga" (sung by Desh Gaurav) to evoke regional flavor, supporting thematic transitions from stigma to empowerment without overpowering dialogue-driven scenes.[16][14] Sound design by Satish Poojary highlighted ambient rural noises—like sporadic electricity hums limited to one hour daily—to ground the production in verifiable village hardships, enhancing causal realism in the hygiene crisis depiction.[14][17] Production choices prioritized low-budget verisimilitude over high-gloss aesthetics, aligning with the film's advocacy for grassroots innovation.[18]Synopsis and Themes
Plot Summary
Phullu depicts the story of its titular character, an unemployed young man residing in a remote Indian village lacking basic infrastructure, who supports himself through menial tasks, including supplying cloth scraps to local women for menstrual hygiene. Living with his disapproving mother and sister, Phullu is compelled into marriage with Bigni, arranged by his mother in an effort to reform his idle ways.[19][20] Following the marriage, Phullu discovers the severe health risks women face from using unhygienic rags during menstruation, exemplified by his wife's infection. Motivated by this, during a visit to the city, he consults a female doctor who introduces him to commercial sanitary napkins; he procures a supply for the village but finds adoption limited due to prohibitive costs.[19][3] Undeterred, Phullu journeys to Delhi to acquire knowledge on manufacturing affordable sanitary pads, subsequently setting up rudimentary production at home. His initiative provokes backlash from family members, including his mother and sister, and the broader community, rooted in entrenched menstrual taboos, escalating personal conflicts such as his pregnant wife departing for her parental home.[19][7] The narrative traces Phullu's persistent experimentation and advocacy, ultimately enabling the distribution of low-cost pads and confronting village-wide stigmas associated with female hygiene.[1][19]