Padman — Life and business lessons
“Arrey usko chhod, pure world ka gyan hai isme” (leave that, the whole world’s knowledge is here). You realise that Manas Sharma, the son of Professor Sharma, is referring to the entire movie when he says this to Lakshmi rather than just the internet. This was what turned Lakshmi’s life around, and he went on to become Padman!
Padman is based on the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, famously known as the Sanitary Man of India. In this film, Akshay Kumar plays the lead role of Laxmikant Chauhan, who later becomes a social entrepreneur to educate his wife on menstrual hygiene. While the film aims to break the taboo surrounding menstrual health, it also teaches us important life and business lessons.
Work is complete only when it is completed, not when it appears to be completed:
When Laxmi’s colleague makes a mistake while repairing a gate, his boss tells him, “Kaam tab khatm hota hai jab who theek hota hai. Lagta nahi!” (Work is only completed when it is actually completed, not when it appears to be completed.) We frequently make mistakes in our routine work, assuming it is complete when it is not. We are actually avoiding additional work by not analysing our own work. He further adds, “Grahak ko dene se pehle, hame har cheej istamaal karke deni chahiye” (Before giving anything to the customer, we must first check everything.) In the corporate world, this means that we must double-check our work/reports before submitting them to avoid any unnoticed errors.
You can not win a battle alone:
Laxmi could not have become Padman without the assistance of the cobbler, who provided glue; the butler, who provided blood samples for his experiment; and, most importantly, the professor’s son, who introduced Laxmi to the world of the internet by saying “Arrey usko chhod, pure world ka gyan hai isme” (The whole world’s knowledge is here). To complete a major task, we always require assistance and support from our coworkers. When we all help one another, everybody wins.
Keep it simple, silly!
When introduced to the internet, Laxmi sees a massive pad-making machine costing crores. The machine was doing four things. He knew he couldn’t afford such a machine, so he divided the tasks into different parts and created four different low-cost machines that performed four different functions. In our daily lives, when confronted with massive tasks, we must break them down into smaller, manageable tasks in order to complete the entire task.
Laxmi was also not perplexed by technical jargon. He kept it simple and concentrated on each function. Hence Pulverization became “Bhushashan” inspired by the coconut slicing machine, Compression became “Chaptashan” inspired by roti making, Interfusion became “Potlishan” inspired by his wife’s method of packing his tiffin in fresh leaves, and Sterilization became “Saaf-sutharashan” inspired by the way red chili is dried in the sun. We must try and keep things as simple as possible. Life is easy. Jargon makes it busy!
Do not forget why you started
At IIT, Laxmi receives the “Life-Changing Innovation of the Year” award from Amitabh Bachchan for his “Haathomatic” pad making machine. This is how he got the name “Padman.” Instead of agreeing to register his patent and earn crores of rupees, he simply wants people to build low-cost pad-making machines so that sanitary pads become affordable to rural women. He stuck to his principles and did not abandon them because of greed for money. Similarly, we must remember why we began in the first place. We must avoid distractions and stick to our principles.
Equity is the best policy
Laxmi teaches all of the women in the village how to use the machine to make pads, giving them work, self-esteem, and the opportunity to make a name for themselves. More than equality, equity is the best policy because it ensures that everyone is treated fairly.
Language is not a barrier; communication is
In the film’s remarkable climax, Laxmi, refusing to accept the services of an interpreter, explains the importance of menstrual health and its impact in a country like India in front of a packed United Nations auditorium in his famous “Linglish” language. He adds, “People laughing that time so I make invention Pad machine, you laughing this time, I make new invention, my English, Laxmi English, Linglish. English only taxi taking my feeling to you. Ok meter down!” This self-explanatory statement of his emphasises the importance of communication over language.
Don’t chase money; chase your dreams
In the same speech, he adds, “This Laxmi not chasing Lakshmi, If Laxmi chases money, it makes him money man, not Padman” beautifully expressing that money is not the end of the road, but rather the quality of life is. We frequently cry out to God, “Why me?” But Laxmi has an explanation for that as well. He says, “Problem coming, chance for living. Problem means mauka, some nity….. opportunity yes opportunity” We must see our problems as an opportunity to grow.
With the boycott of Bollywood still in effect, content is king, and films like Padman can connect with audiences not only because they are well-made, but also because they address a topic that people want to know about but cannot discuss openly.
Image source: Google image search.
