Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (transl. Toilet: A Love Story) or simply Toilet, is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film[4] directed by Shree Narayan Singh.[5][6] Co-produced by Akshay Kumar and Neeraj Pandey,[7] the film stars Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar,[8] with campaigns to improve sanitation conditions in India, with an emphasis on the eradication of open defecation, which, before the Swachh Bharat mission, was still a problem, especially in rural areas.[6]
Up until then, the lack of infrastructure led to nearly half of the rural population defecating in the open (2015). In 2021 though, this amount had greatly decreased to 15% for the general population (1% for urban areas, and 22% for rural areas[9]). It was reported that the movie is based on the true story of Anita Narre from Madhya Pradesh, who refused to go back to her husband Shivram’s home because it had no toilet.[10][11] In fact, after the ending of the film, a photograph of Narre couple is shown with Bhumi Pednekar, and this fact is mentioned as a subtitle. In the beginning of the film too, it is narrated that the film is inspired by a true incident, although the name of real characters comes only towards the end.
The film released on 11 August, 2017. It received mixed reviews from critics[12] for the scripting and performances of lead actors. It was a commercial success domestically as well as overseas, particularly in China. It became Kumar’s highest-grossing film of all time and the fourth highest grossing Indian film of the year grossing ₹311.02 crore worldwide.
The film received three nominations at the 63rd Filmfare Awards: Best Film, Best Director for Narayan Singh and Best Actor for Akshay Kumar.
Cast
- Akshay Kumar as Keshav Sharma[13]
- Bhumi Pednekar as Jaya Sharma (Nee’ Joshi)[13]
- Divyendu Sharma as Narayan (“Naru”) Sharma
- Anupam Kher[14] as Dinanath (“DJ Kakka”) Joshi
- Sudhir Pandey as Pandit Vimalnath Sharma (“Panditji” or “Vimu”), Keshav and Naru’s father
- Atul Srivastava as Mr. Jagdish Joshi, Jaya’s father
- Ayesha Raza Mishra as Vidya Joshi, Jaya’s mother
- Rajesh Sharma as Mathur
- Shubha Khote as Rampyari (“Dadi”) Sharma, Keshav’s grandmother
- Mukesh S Bhatt as Rastogi
- Kimti Anand as Pradhan
- Rati Shankar Tripathi as Sarpanch
- Sachin Khedekar as Director (cameo)
- Sana Khan as Keshav’s unnamed lover (cameo)[15][16]
- Khushboo Sawan as Meena, Jaya’s friend
- Richa Tiwari as Reporter
- Akash Singh Rajput as Reporter [17]
- Aasif Khan as Reporter (cameo)[18]
