I first learned about periods when I was 10. On the car ride home from school I told my dad and older brother all about what I had learned that day, as I did everyday. But when I got home my proudly feminist mother scolded me for speaking of periods in front of men. For the rest of my childhood, the word period was only ever whispered.

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I want to highlight how a taboo on a natural part of life can consume many girls’ childhood and force a generational cycle of silence. I hope Pad Hai is to Desi mothers what “Everything Everywhere All At Once” was to East Asian moms and “Didi” was to Asian American teenagers. A chance to be a problematic, lovable, and fully realized protagonist whose cultural identity creates but also teaches them how to solve problems.

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“Pad Hai” is much more than a short film. It is a movement to achieve menstrual freedom and destigmatize women's bodies. I hope to make people around the globe laugh and see a new perspective with our collaboration.

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