Mumbai: Akshay Kumar's "Padman" will be locking horns with his filmmaker friend Neeraj Pandey's upcoming film "Aiyaary" next year and the superstar does not seem to be worried about it.   The year 2018 will open with "Padman" and "Aiyaary" release on January 26.   

Asked about the clash, Akshay said, "Both the films are absolutely different. Neeraj is a dear friend of mine. There is nothing like a clash. The word clash is media created. My film might get screened on 2,800 screens or so. There would be in 1,600-1,800 or more. "There are 4,000-5,000 screens so how come there is a clash. That film is different and so is ours. So there is no clash as such." The national award-winning actor said it was his wife Twinkle who researched the story.   

It is a biographical drama based on the life of the Tamil Nadu-based activist Arunachalam Muruganantham, who worked towards providing cost-effective and hygienic sanitary napkins to the women in the rural areas. It features Akshay in the lead role while Radhika Apte plays his wife.   

"The concept of 'Padman' was Twinkle's and it is written and directed by R Balki. It is a very honest subject which we have brought in front of the Indian audience. "It talks about sanitary pads and nobody ever spoke about it earlier. It is an attempt to tell what women go through." Akshay was speaking yesterday on the sidelines of a launch event of a multiplex here.   "Aiyaari" is a thriller revolving around the relationship between a mentor and a protege, played by Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth Malhotra. PTI