The situations got worse with the recent influx of more than six hundred eighty thousand range of refugees to the camps fleeing violence in myanmar over going to bring you more news at the top of the next hour in about twenty five minutes time off to the stream. Hi im femi oke a im going to stream today a new bollywood film has people talking about the cost of the songs but most importantly about the message the importance of Mental Health and hygiene by bringing the story of one indian innovated to the big screen the films producer director and kos they are removing stigma around periods not all superheroes way capes this have my. America superman. Batman. Spiderman. Look him in the occupied. Armor but married only becoming famous. As long as the. Old big strong man not making country strong to see if i. Just suit him over. One strong mother strong sister strong then going to be strong. The mists and to bruise around menstruation a monthly often painful part of life and adding to that burden lack of access to sanitary pads as a result girls mace or to. Out of school the Economic Opportunities down the line of reinforcing that is to use but one that i would not. Them became well known for his local static making machine of creating awareness about the un hygienic practices around menstruation in india he is indeed i was explaining why he got stuck to it. And the matter. Will be impressed my new or whatever gurus talk of a small small gift so like the boy in the sauce they use cutting something behind him the purpose is to if i missed something then ask what is the. Instant the clapping on my cheek is none of your business but as others is being with this it is the end of the begin her boozy world this is highly unpopular nasty that blood with you lets try and get under the cloak. Then i understand since ive been management both to manage it. I am. This remarkable story is the inspiration for the new film pad man joining us now from our studios in london we have to uncork producer of pacman via skype from colorado in the United States by founder and c. E. O. Of eyes thats a company that designs low cost health and Hygiene Products for girls and women every mumbai india Jaideep Mandell founder of africa innovations that a social enterprise that enables poor women to produce and distribute affordable eco friendly sanitary napkins guest welcome i just want to pause for a moment and say this phrase the welds first feature film about Menstrual Hygiene so breda j. D. When you first saw that this was happening in your initial reaction was what i think for me it was this is a conversation starter. For me that came from this piece of my dining hell trying to figure out how my. Going to educate these women about importance of hygiene because there are women dying every two minutes and childbirth just because they cant. In this was really exciting for us to know that there is going to be a large scale conversation starter that might help our work going and date it conversations for you what were you thinking you saw the posters badmash coming twenty eighteen and you thought what. Actually our study started with him only back into the then when we started the first unit he looked up and in the northern part of india so and i have been knowing him for almost ten years now and i just said makes what i do nothing but miss ration before we started the first bag of isolation on the back of the no asian documented by a master no its obvious and i knew that who manifested it but you know so what im doing is trying to come isolated was his innovation. And the foothills with a collaborator and even it so so and then we moved on i made our machines we made lots and lots of ads but i think this is coming out of the great need to this topic to be talking about when you started it was ugly and apart from him who was talking about this and now with this movie had been out as a Bollywood Movie and thinking about this i have a question for you twinkle from twitter i am prana says i would like to ask you about the full price as she went through a when she decided to make a movie on the topic which is considered a to boo in india shes the producer putting a lot of money into the movie was she apprehensive of the movies come natural success twinkled. Right at the beginning id like to see that if i was really making a movie for commercial success or that sort of movie i would have to blow up eleven cars in the first scene and then id be guaranteed a box office hit. Making a movie about menstruation was really for me not about commercial success as much yes we do want the movie to do well because if we make profits then other movies with a strong message would have the courage to go ahead but. It was just more of an anthem story that i found compelling when i first read it i was doing some research for a column on menstruation and i read about him and it just gripped me because here was a man from a very conservative conservative village who encountered a problem when he realized that his wife was using rags and unlike other people he didnt think that i need to and more money and then by her side if you beds he said im going to make her a local sanitary pad and i thought that was fascinating the other thing that i found very appealing in his story was the fact that he at this point of time only sells his machines to n. G. O. S and womens groups and enables them to on a livelihood as well as giving them access to look a sanitary pads and when i saw his talks the thing that really appealed to me to make a movie about him is that theres a certain whimsy about him as a man whos doing a very serious they when he doesnt take himself seriously which lends very well to cinematic narrative and and so with badminton let me just show you a clip of american athame and hes talking about why its so important for him to do the work he does its not about money its about the work this is a thing i havent. Computing giants even from the difficult. To compete multinationals im just going on cement here. What is my business im going to make india and the person sent in a losing country in my life. In this were going to provide not missin a million dollars. Thats what im not running after this bloody money im doing something serious to go he was on the set with you here he is with the star playing him also your husband actually and you american awesome on the set what did he make of his story being made into such a huge film. Again i dont think he was really bothered about you know fame or money for that matter he was very interested in the movie that the protagonist and actually who plays him has the right posture for well there are so he was sort of obsessed with that no matter what we were doing he was like no but a welder doesnt stand like that and i said well there are only you know a handful well those who really know that you dont hunch over in that manner i think of for him its a culmination of his lifes work and he can see that and i kept telling him that were going now youre immortal your work is immortal and that sort of pleased him i guess show you a quote from the director and he says this is its a childrens film it must be seen with families we dont want to teach or preach our film is Pure Entertainment debate or defend us going to work the idea of were not going to do you are not going to do a lecture were not doing a documentary were going to have fun with this. You know i think its a wait and watch kind of thing i really want to see if that happens and id be very happy if that happens given the fact that it was so much like i was talking to my the other day its not necessarily about the taboo its about the lack of the conversation and its this film can actually get people to sit together and try to screen and watch this subject and talk about it i think thats something thats with the pain of the victory of this year in the benson age in space and this already few people working in this space gebbie been a good friend as well i think its just about how can we get these people to talk about it and if it really happens nobody more excited than us i guess and speaking. Of that theres a beautiful love song and this film which is already a hit song its called i disappear. And it means that youre always going to go on together today on what its a love song between the two main characters have a listen have a look. At the. Budget its. A really. Good. Movie. To. Turn. This idea that perry is a shameful is something that is central to the film to the story of american after him he says here on twitter periods are not shameful attitudes towards it are weve initiated the conversation its time for you to nischelle to around you try and teach men and women about periods what they are how do you even start that conversation. The very first thing as we believe lake when we start in the states and we try to talk about the science what we do not do that and that was directly but in india all this and that was us and happening. And if you talk to the birds and the women around back it would create a barrier so what we do instead of talk about the science can if you wish to also talk about that what is the Science Behind this which is what actually happens in. Ugly women and in villages adolescent cities nor bad so what we want to talk about with the men who are having kids is very important for men but they do not know theres a connection between this fashion and say if a woman is not menstruating they cannot have kids so once you make those connections like inspiration and that is connected it makes this place them to other men also to focus on that and then thats a broader woman actually support in terms of like a man to support a Baby Products or even support in terms of you know household in the ivies so the simple connection is makes a lot of sense so we do it and then we feel like who is talking as a partner someone like who is close to them are someone whom they can trust would be happy to in schools it would be the parents it could become a needy woman whom they are interacting in day to day basis the other one was to communicate we never talk like a marquee medical legal duty program straighten up and theres regionally i wipe up into the certain moment addict me because you feel like thats comics is that important too bad you are different show is about that doesnt resonate with you i know that you have a product questions affordable menstrual pads for people very low incomes and looking at it right here when you share this new show things to people tell us take the action because i think thats very telling. Sure i think for us the bags were request from the woman that we were serving who were giving birth to babies and they have another bad thats called a postpartum hey jean which is very different because what you observed was vitamins documents and when women started using up. They were like well do you have sanitary pads for us to start you know using regularly after that because we love your product and of product was created with woman with the needs they had and the gynecologists and their clothing street in d. C. Thats not distraction coming from us and for us the court of public and its has been leading products that women want to lead and like i said before menstrual aging the something that we enter because we start a huge need that was missing in the market and the only sort that i was. You know we we came up with i clinton you know had the regular low cost but what that woman kept telling us was we need out of ten pounds we could be going out well we won that time floyd you know we dont want rushes and giggling to be the sum up to do that and i think thats how our conversation started with women who are giving birth to babies and then there are and we launched our with the Doctors Today recommend to come want to share this thought with you it comes from our online audience and they say. Dont say this out loud boys arent supposed to know about it and staying on the insecurities we go through hiding it i feel that this film is surely will reduce that idea about stigma how do you go about and i dont want to spoiler alert here but how about how do you go about talking about Mental Hygiene in a bollywood film. Its a story so because its going to them story weve been completely unapologetic about the fact that its about menstruation its about sanitary pad. But the what to be done and what i think he has achieved is that hes also made sure that for the first five minutes when you see the movie perhaps youd be uncomfortable because now youre addressing a topic that you never dressed before but after that youre immersed in the story and all the things that even spoke about about you know how he. Interacts with women by people close to them talking about how he says that he has calling childbirth which is important to men with menstruation is something that is also there in our food where the protagonist realizes that you know perhaps if his wife continues using and i do make rags it could lead to being you know sterile so weve done that and also what weve done very clearly is that our messaging is such and because of modern anthems character its not a preachy movie its not a movie where we are going to give us some in because even as as a mother i know that if im going to give my children a lecture then im like a Television Remote my mouth is moving but nobodys really listening so here we are again made it into weve made it really and still a message hopefully will come through loud and clear. And get it was anything you want to go is not often that you get the producer of a major movie a ballot to open right here to talk to you. Want on swindle. I think my biggest question to twinkle would be did you think of any large scale outcomes that this movie would have you know idea and ten definitely you talk about it as a conversation story start or a story that you want to kind of communicate an inspirational person but beyond that i think for people working in the space if you had an outcome in mind its easier for us to value since behind that outcome because when the use of there is i mean look at least on the other Womans Health advocate its a its a long way to doesnt just start with menstruation goes all the way to medical and if youre menstruation isnt right then and it affects you in different parts of your life and about the disposal great like were working with today right twinkle has to say good question. So when i began this journey i first wrote my column in two thousand and fifteen it was my first column on menstruation and then i wrote a book in two thousand and sixteen about this and finally two thousand and eighteen we have the movie i think for me one yes the conversation starter was very important the other thing i was looking at this in two ways there was a movie and there was also an issue a problem and it was something that i as a woman you know identify with even today if you ask me after doing all this research if i when i go into a temple i have to fight against my ingrain conditioning saying that im not committing a blasphemy and and i thought to myself that even as a progressive woman if these thoughts in my mind that what about the rest of the women who are probably not spend so much time researching a subject like menstruation so one is trying to dispel the taboos the other thing that i was talking to were going to also about at this point his pads are ninety percent biodegradable and after the firm im hoping to raise funding to make it one hundred percent biodegradable so that we do have a sustainable eco friendly way of managing during our period and also to help him get his machines into more states and so that a lot more women can use them and earn their livelihoods as well as have access to pads just my larger picture yeah i think my question is on that line only. When we use a starter of a conversation for follow yes its going to have thank you for what you know. Because i want to have like can i share this with you because it is im actually kumah the star of the film and this is what he hopes the film would chief have anything so with the help of awful if we were able to make even the slightest change a little starting a conversation in peoples living room about Menstrual Hygiene i will be happy since it is treated as such a taboo subject not only in rural areas but also in cities. Of course the big idea is to. Make a change we have to get the first hopefully the rest of the reform so twinkle and not ready says around thirty Million People could watch the movie or the related content when they start discussing this its no more. Thats a lot of pressure is that possible could you maybe do that for india what im really happy about is that even before the movie is released once the trailer was out there the conversations already begun i have seen men who in all these years have never spoken about sanitary pads or menstruation or period discussing it we. And as time is going by i look at you know a lot of women who are not talking about this who are shy. You know taking pictures holding a sanitary pad up in their hands so once theres a certain shame and embarrassment that this i need to buy your sigrid or your beauty and i need sen bags and im hoping that will take place slowly after watching this for im looking at a picture here of you should university from earlier on this. Year in your press tour talking about pacman here and here you are with Malala Yousafzai which is unusual you had that conversation because youre so sure sense of how big this is and then addressing oxford uni as well what is this like the idea that this is global its not just about menstruation a Menstrual Hygiene in india people around the world are really interested. And the other thing also i feel that the other thing that i want to talk about is why sanitary pads are treated as luxury items and why are they tax and theyre taxed all over the world theyre taxed in india twelve percent theyre taxed in the u. K. Theyre taxed in many states in america and i think again its because women as a group we are not standing up and relieve and because of this embarrassment about our own biology were not standing up and say that this is ridiculous you know why is via great tax return seven states why are condoms downstream india and why not sanitary pads let me just bring in this thought here first of all the should reach out to the rule areas of india but it turns out to be a revolution india as far sanitary pads are concerned. This is what you do all the time been doing this for many years do you think that a movie might be a great educational tool a nice one in particular yes absolutely because the dogs stop you know. Shows during those years lovable across the country and across the globe so i think i would get a lot along with the girls and that would help. Im looking here at some of the projects that you are doing that are doing right now right now and its about getting access to many products to sanitary towels tell us about the idea of the simplicity ideas of beta about people being out of buy parts and then helping other people in other parts of the worlds. Sure so i said six indicate that about eight hundred million women men straight every single day and more than half of them dont have access to and told us to be able to wait access and education and i wanted to try to help play cycle we launched this campaign called go with confidence dont shop in the us to be totally launched in the u. K. Pretty soon as ok we want women who can afford to buy thats for themselves and people dont need a bad woman in need so basically i am buying a bike its all myself i will donate exactly the same package to a woman in india this nigga kind of bringing a global collect dubois of woman to not only health and power themselves that help others but help empower other doesnt need as i write and jaideep i love this tale on the street here perry its will not stop me parry it at your campaign. Now. You have so back to be the fact it is going to be uncarved freedom from shame to create this avenue across india in seven states and we tried to follow you the biggest dropping in to different very very talk about the famed c w ten baboons and we like the Biggest Campaign forward and you talk of those we are also working with them in the model as i disagree with. Us on what i will mean for the fans are going to clamp onto us and one of the things im back up on the u. S. Might be regulation prevents i miss programs as a low cost to school good thing probability over across india twinkle you are doing this extensive press junket you are talking about Mental Hygiene to the how well are you project. I think i think i probably get tired of this once i hit menopause and. Its so like these every few months i think some part of it really isnt made with me all right thank you so much to the great a by remember our conversation continues online using hash tag eight a stream i will leave you with another song from the film at my. Own. Song like a little bit cheeky you she didnt know how to set it up if you break it down you need to think. I dont want to live in the world where everything is designed in california made. The cutting edge is in my hands of the corporation the only way to be subversive is to be able to control the technology but my small bands he has built a chip that anyone can do to build anything that. Cost like a pizza spearheading a Global Movement to democratize technology to meet your maker part of the rehberg series at this time on our disease. There is growing in a very short time to be a trusted news source wherever you are in the world he really want to know whats going on there and you will find out very quickly when i look at the news some nations prison. We are probably International Everybody will learn something watching our coverage. We showing that we can be the best International News and most trusted source of stories that people actually cant find elsewhere and thats going to continue. Where ever you are. Hello im Maryam Namazie in london lets bring you up to speed with all top stories this hour syrian warplanes have launched a fierce offensive on the rebel held province of idlib