This film by any other name would have been just the same.  The film begins impressively with a high-angle shot of a cremation in a village. Cut to a village simpleton Phullu (Sharib Hashmi) staying with his mother (Nutan Surya) and sister Tara (Trisha).  Phullu runs errands for the women-folk of the village, doing their shopping from the neighbouring town. Their shopping list includes sanitary napkins, without the bumbling Phullu knowing of its purpose. His authoritarian and austere ‘amma’ gets him married to comely Beghni (Jyotti Sethi) presuming her lad would change for the better.

The film’s main theme begins when, during a visit to a chemist’s in town, he chances upon urban women’s parcels wrapped in newspaper and packed in black carry-bags. The lady pharmacist expounds on the ‘hygienic benefits of sanitary napkins’ over discarded pieces of cloth his wife and sister would use.  He sets out to ingeniously make them, drawing further wrath from his mother.

While director Abhishek Saxena and writer Shaheen Iqbal should be lauded for discoursing on a subject considered taboo and anathema, especially in our country, the treatment of the subject is insipid to the point of being uninspiring. The ‘janaani rog’ (women’s diseases) tag wears thin after a time and the film resembles a public service slogan exhibited in cinema halls before the main feature, not unlike the tobacco ads.

Hashmi is outstanding in his role and some of the best scenes are shared with his ‘Filmistan’ co-star Inaamulhaque (as a mendicant outside the mosque). While other actors are tolerable, Nutan Surya’s character as the shrieking and abusive mother intrudes on the gravitas of the film. Shot in Mathura and sought to be released before Akshay Kumar’s ‘Padman’, a biopic on Arunachalam Muruganantham, Phullu is a film best shown in rural schools and villages.