We, the DNT people
The film is about training training to the indigenous community youth.
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Bajrange Nandlal DakxinkumarDirectorSameer, Sundarana, Birth 1871, Broken Gods
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Project Type:Documentary
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Runtime:38 minutes 20 seconds
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Completion Date:April 12, 2024
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Production Budget:15,000 USD
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Country of Origin:India
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Country of Filming:India
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Language:Gujarati
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Shooting Format:HD
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Dakxinkumar ¬Bajrange, widely known as “Dakxin Chhara” (Showreel) is a filmmaker, dramaturge and activist belonging to Chhara De-notified Tribe (DNT). He is a recipient of a Ford Foundation Fellowship and studied MA at the University of Leeds, UK. Currently, he lives in Ahmedabad; Gujarat. He is the founder of a film production company called Nomad Movies Pvt Ltd and the founding trustee of Vimukta Trust and Budhan Theatre.
As a filmmaker, he has made more than 130 fiction and non-fiction films which have received recognition worldwide. His films and awards include, “Silent Thunder”, a film on the life of Padmashree Dr, Ganesh Devy for Bhasha Research and Publication Centre and “Setu” on the preservation of Tribal languages. In 2012 he collaborated with UK-based researcher Dr Alice Tilche and produced a research film “Sundarana” on the migration history of the Patidar community. This film was selected for many film festivals including the reputed Taiwan International film festival of Ethnography. In 2013, he collaborated with the University of Amsterdam and made a research film “Dharmaj Day”, a film on migration abroad by the people of Dharmaj village in Gujarat. In the same year, he made a film in association with the University of Leeds, UK on so-called India’s “Criminal Tribes” history titled ‘Birth 1871” (For more details, please click). The project was supported by The British Academy and by the Cultural and Creative Industries Exchange (Ignite), UK. Then in collaboration with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), he made a research film called “Broken Gods”, a film on the religionization of tribal people in Gujarat. Broken Gods travelled to many film festivals including Jaipur International Film Festival (2021), TIEFF, and Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival, UK and received many recognitions. It is widely screened in universities not just in India but in Europe, the UK and the USA. (Click for more details). In 2014 his production company Nomad Movies produced the critically acclaimed Bollywood film Sameer starring Zeeshan Ayyub, Seema Biswas and Anjali Patil. It was released in Theatres in 2017 and then it was released on Netflix from Oct 2017 to Oct 2019 and is now available on Amazon Prime Video and Jio-Cinema. Sameer also received the “Best Director” (2017) award at the Indian Film Festival of Queensland, Australia. Sameer is also invited by the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam to screen it in India's focus section.
In 2018, he made a film “Toiletwale” for the European Funding Agency called Lilianna Fonds via Jan Vikas Samiti on sanitation issues of disabled people in Chamaparan region of Bihar. In 2019, he directed a film called “Bullet” on the Bullet Train project coming from Ahmedabad to Mumbai for Gujarat Khedut Samaaj. In 2020, in association with UK-based production house Shatterproof Productions produced the award-winning film “The Last Man”, a film that depicts the issues of manual scavenger communities in India. Recently the film received Kerala State Award at the International Documentary Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK). Additionally, The Last Man also received the Donald E. Lacy, Jr. Social Justice Award at Studio City, and the Award of Merit at the 7th Arts International Film Festival. He made an utterly desktop-based film “Covid-19 Blame Game” for the Association of International Network of Democratic Indian Abroad (I.N.D.I.A). Blame Game received the Best Director award at the 7th Arts International Film Festival in 2020. For INGO called IPE Global, he directed a short profile film titled “Udaan” about how government scholarship is helping to stop adolescent marriages in Rajasthan.
From June 2020 to June 2021, as a Project Director, Mr Dakxin Chhara trained DNT youth in filmmaking and directed 20 Budhan Video Podcasts and released it on community social media platforms during Covid-19 to the awareness about Corona. He just finished AHRC funded project from the University of Leicester to give training in filmmaking to underprivileged community youth in Ahmedabad and in tribal areas of Gujarat state.
Mr. Dakxin Chhara is making films since 1999 and he has worked with extremely talented creative people like Creative Directors, Script Writers, Content Writers, Actors, Assistant Directors, editors, sound designers, DOPs, Graders, Animators, VFX artists, Voice Artists, Animators etc. Apart from this, Mr Dakxin Chhara is empanelled as a PRODUCER at the Information Department of Gujarat State and he produced 8 documentary films for the Government of Gujarat’s various ministries and departments. Via UK based Universities, many of his films are funded by reputed funding agencies like the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Global Challenge Research Funds (GCRF), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), The British Academy, The Leverhulme Trust, The Funds for Global Human Rights (FGHR).
From Feb 2023-2025, Mr Dakxin Chhara will be working on the research project as a Project Director giving training in Theatre and filmmaking to the nomadic and de-notified community youth living in the Himalayas, on islands of Andaman Nicobar and in the Desert of Rajasthan.
As a dramaturge, Mr. Dakxin Chhara has directed and written 12 plays, mostly street plays, and performed more than 1000 shows across the country. His plays include Budhan (1998) - Widely performed and Published by Penguin India publication in ‘Painted Words’, Purva Prakashan, and Malayala Manorama Magazine; translated and published in Many Indian Languages as well as in Chinese, Pinya Hari Kale Ki Maut (Death of Pinya Hari Kale) (1999), Encounter (2001), Majhab Hame Sikhata Aapas Mein Bair Rakhna (2002), Bhoma (2004) (Written by Badal Sircar), Ek Chhoti Si Ladai (2005), Khoj (Search) (2005), Ulgulan (2006), Muze Mat Maro…Saab (Don’t Beat Me… Sir) (2008), Ek Aur Balcony (An Adaptation – Written by Gean Genet) (2008), Accidental Death of an Anarchist (An Adaptation- Written by Dario Fo) (2009), The Lower Depth (An adaptation- Written by Maxim Gorky) (2012), Har Sapane ko Jeene Ka Adhikaar Hai (2018) and Second Class Citizen? (2022)
In addition, he has conducted a number of theatre workshops with students and underprivileged community youths and trained more than 300 DNT youth in Theatre and films
For more information, please visit http://dakxinchhara.in (Not updated)
Like millions of untouchables, India is also home to 60 million so-called "Born Criminals' who live with the colonial stigma of "Criminal Tribes". When the media and society, at large, are silent on this humane rights issue they face, the community people decide to raise their voices through their traditional arts. Madaris who begs for their livelihood and Nats who perform rope walk shows on streets came together and Budhan Theatre members Dakxin Chhara and Atish Indrekar trained them in street theatre art. As a trainer and director of this film, these peasant actors are not just actors, for me, they are cultural leaders who became spokespersons of their communities by using theatre and various art forms. This training helped them to understand their community issues and aware them of their fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution of India. Two years of constant creative interaction also helped them to break social barriers within their communities like oppressive rules for women within Madari society. The creative process helped them to enable their hidden artistic art and voice out their problems in front of their own communities and also to the larger society.
Such small-scale creative experiments may help DNTs to avail constitutional guarantees to decolonise them and free them from the ‘Criminal Tribes” stigma.