Abhishek Banerjee: There shouldn't be any shame attached to the word 'condom'

Actor Abhishek Banerjee, who plays a pivotal part in upcoming condom-comedy 'Helmet', says the idea of making such a family entertainer with a subtle message is to change the conversation around the taboo attached to the word 'condom' in daily life.

Abhishek told IANS: "I think the word 'condom' is not an abusive or vulgar word. I am not saying one has to use the word unnecessarily just to sound cool or progressive but the taboo and discomfort attached to it should go away. When it comes to a family entertainer, we usually and very consciously avoid certain genres of film for family viewing, which is understandable. But the idea is to normalise the word and talk around it, like the way we are trying to do with periods and sanitary napkins."

He added, "The discomfort of asking for a packet of condoms from the shopkeeper at a medical store is so much that men avoid buying condoms at times. That should be stopped. In a humourous way, our film 'Helmet' is trying to say that. The shame attached to words like 'condom' and 'sanitary pad' should go away."

'Helmet' is directed by Satram Ramani, and also features Aparshakti Khurana, Pranutan Bahl, Ashish Verma and Sharib Hashmi.

Asked about his character in the film and Abhishek said, "The name of my character is Sultan who has zero balance in his account. As he had to pay back his loan, he along with his friends decides to rob a truck and only later they realised that the truck is filled with boxes of condoms. Now, the story starts from how they sell these condoms among people."

Produced by Dino Morea, 'Helmet' releases on ZEE5 on September 3.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)

ABHISHEK BANERJEE

Tags: Cinema, Showbiz, Bollywood