The beloved Akshay Kumar who has appeared in over a hundred Hindi films and has won several awards including the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Rustom is now all set for his upcoming release, Pad Man. This isn't the first time he has starred in a film based on a social cause. Before Pad Man, Akshay's Toilet: A Prem Katha won a million hearts.

Pad Man is a fictionalized account of Padmashri Arunachalam Muruganatham, the man who revolutionized the manufacture of the low-cost sanitary napkin in India. He invented the machine that can make a pad at a very minimal cost! The revolution that follows from spreading menstrual hygiene to empowering women, to starting mini cooperatives, to a vision of making India a 100% Pad using country, to accolades, to international glory and to a final resolution of his personal life.

Here's the real story of the living legend. A school dropout from Coimbatore, Muruganantham decided to challenge a 'taboo'. His mission was to provide sanitary napkins at minimal cost to poor women across the country, especially in rural areas. Muruganantham, whose father was a handloom worker, was well aware of the nitty-gritty of machine and cotton for pads.

What he didn't know was the hardship faced by women during the menstrual cycle, something he learned from his wife Shanthi in 1998. He created a 'uterus' for himself from a football bladder and filled it with goat's blood. He mixed an additive to prevent the blood from clotting but the smell did not stop. He used to roam around the whole day with the bladder tied under his clothes. His aim was to check the absorption rate of the sanitary napkins made by him. It took him two years and three months to discover what sanitary pads are made of. Almost after four-and-a-half years, he successfully created a low-cost machine for the production of sanitary pads.

In India, at least one in five girls drops out of school in rural areas after they get their period, according to research from Nielsen and Plan India, and only 12 percent of menstruating girls and women use sanitary pads. (Most use old rags, which can lead to reproductive diseases.)

Presenting the film to the Indian audience will be a challenge. Another challenge that the film crew faced was finding local actors enlightened enough to handle the topic. One actor quit after a two-day shoot because a scene involved his holding a sanitary pad. "We couldn’t find him. We had to reshoot the two days with someone else", said Akshay.

Disgust and shame is a common reaction from men in India. Akshay is hoping Pad Man will prompt the sort of activism that has swept the U.S. in the last two years, including new legislation, conferences, a celebrated new book and celebrity campaigns. Even men are joining the fight. Twinkle Khanna believes the needs in India are far more basic. Pad Man is a superhero India desperately needs.