A clean thought

Akshay Kumar doesn’t hesitate to voice his opinion about important issues in the country. He has previously spoken about the Bengaluru molestation case, and also about providing a platform for people to help families of the martyred soldiers.

In fact, he even recently contributed over Rs 1 crore to the families of martyred soldiers. The actor has now come up with yet another video to spread awareness about the crisis of insufficient toilets in India.

In the six minute-long video titled Soch Aur Shauch, Akshay says that he was shocked by the findings of the research for his upcoming movie Toilet — EkPrem Katha, which also stars Bhumi Pednekar.

“While researching for the film, I came across facts which completely shook me up. At first, I thought of not doing this video because people might think that I am publicising my film. However, I would like people to spread awareness about good sanitary hygiene as much as they can,” he said.

The 49-year-old actor talked about what women in villages go through every day, because they do not have a toilet in the house. He points out how unlike women, men do not have to go through all this.

“India is a superpower but still many Indians, especially ladies, cannot use toilets when they want. They are forced to defecate in the open. They walk out early morning or late in the night, and I am worried that women and children face serious health issues due to this.”

Akshay also pointed out that around 1,000 kids die every day due to sanitation problems. “When you can have a kitchen and a bedroom under one roof, then why not a toilet?” he asked, also stressing on the importance of personal hygiene and health and how the dream of ‘Clean India’ can only come true if there is good hygiene at individual homes.

He urged people to contribute a small percentage from the donations that they give to religious places and build a toilet for a family.