Eight years ago, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha dared to do what most Bollywood love stories wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole: talk s**t — literally. Dropping in 2017 with Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar leading the charge, the film tackled India’s open defecation crisis head-on and, somehow, made sanitation sexy (well, sort of).
Reliance Entertainment’s anniversary post called it “a love story that challenged us to address a burning social issue,” and honestly, that’s putting it mildly. At a time when toilets were still considered taboo dinner-table talk, Toilet flushed its way into mainstream discourse, aligning itself with PM Modi’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and helping drag India's hygiene problem out of the gutter and into the spotlight.
The numbers? They’re not just impressive — they’re history-making. By 2019, over 100 million toilets had been built, with the World Bank reporting a 90% drop in open defecation. Add to that a Lancet study linking sanitation improvements to a 30% drop in child mortality, and suddenly, this wasn’t just a movie — it was a movement.
Even Bill Gates gave it a thumbs-up. Akshay Kumar wasn’t just talking — he was digging toilets in Madhya Pradesh to prove his point. Celebrity activism usually ends with a tweet. Kumar literally picked up a shovel.
Sure, critics weren’t entirely in love with the screenplay (some called it preachy, others just clunky), but even they couldn’t deny the impact. The film helped make a national hygiene crisis part of everyday conversation — not just in Parliament, but in homes where toilets were once considered impure.
In a landscape where Bollywood often plays it safe, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha stood up, rolled up its sleeves, and got dirty — for the greater good. And eight years later, its legacy still smells pretty fresh.