Akshay Kumar, while hosting a Network18 initiative called Mission Paani Waterthon on 26 January, walked a treadmill for more than 21 kilometres because he said he wanted to understand the plight of women in rural areas who have to travel long distances to fetch water. Akshay added that while running for a half marathon, athletes are given water at every juncture, but in real life the women face innumerable difficulties.
However, people on social media called out the actor for trivialising the situations that the women in question have to face. Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan tweeted, "Do physical labour at the farm. Come home to cook, clean, feed kids and rear animals. Get beaten up by frustrated drunk husbands at night. At dawn, walk miles to fetch water in huge vessels. Repeat. Treadmill? It's a roller coaster jolly ride!"
Ghaywan added that in places women are only married off to men with existing wives just so that they can fetch water.
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta tweeted, "I went on intermittent fasting for 7 days. Just to understand how the poor go hungry in our country", adding, "I switched on the air conditioner all night at 16 degrees. To understand how our farmers braved it out in the cold".
Here's what other people have to say:
(With inputs from Network18)
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