Founded in 1998, Budhan Theatre is an Indian theatre group composed of members of the Chhara tribe, one of India's groups of denotified or "criminal" tribal people in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. [1] The Budhan Theatre was founded by Prof. Ganesh Devy G. N. Devy, a renowned linguist and professor of English Literature and Smt. Mahasweta Devi Mahasweta Devi a noted Bangla writer and Magsaysay awardee.
The style of theatre practiced by the theatre troupe is theatre for community development and theatre for social change. They perform street play, Intimate theatre and other experimental theatres to raise awareness about discrimination and violence faced by Chharas and other denotified tribal people in India. Their influences include the Indian People's Theatre Association, Bertoldt Brecht, and the Indian aesthetic of Rasa. [2]
One of the iconic plays performed by Budhan Theatre is called Budhan. During the play, actors reenact the death of Budhan Sabar and demand justice for his murder. [3]
The group had also conducted a one-year diploma course in journalism; a diploma in theatre arts, journalism, and media studies; and a certificate course in dramatics. [4]
The group is led by the youths of Chharanagar. Some of the key people include - Dakxin Bajarange, Kalpana Gagdekar, Roxy Gagdekar, Atish Indrekar, Ruchika Kodekar, Alok Gagdekar. Many youths from the Chhara community - which was once stigmatized as the criminal tribe by the British - are living a successful life by joining Budhan Theatre. Few examples include Alok Gagdekar (the National School of Drama Graduate- 2006), Vivek Ghamande (2007- NSD), Kalpana Gagdekar, Dakxin Bajrange and few more.
The Budhan Theatre has been featured in Shashwati Talukdar and P. Kerim Friedman's documentary film Please Don't Beat Me, Sir. [5] The film follows a group of young actors and their families, telling their stories against the backdrop of the history of India's denotified or "criminal" tribes.
Budhan Theatre takes its name from Budhan Sabar, a tribal man who was labeled a criminal, targeted, and murdered by the police in West Bengal. [6]
Meena is a tribe from northern and western India which is sometimes considered a sub-group of the Bhil community. It used to be claimed they speak Mina language, a spurious language. Its name is also transliterated as Meenanda or Mina. They got the status of Scheduled Tribe by the Government of India in 1954.
Mahasweta Devi was an Indian writer in Bengali and an activist. Her notable literary works include Hajar Churashir Maa, Rudali, and Aranyer Adhikar. She was a leftist who worked for the rights and empowerment of the tribal people of West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states of India. She was honoured with various literary awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith Award and Ramon Magsaysay Award along with India's civilian awards Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.
Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. Bhils are members of a tribal group outside the fold of caste system.
Chuni Kotal was a Dalit Adivasi of Lodha Shabar tribe, a Scheduled Tribes of India, who in 1985 became the first woman graduate among the Lodha Shabars.
PARDHI is a Hindu tribe in India. The tribe is found mostly in Maharashtra and parts of Madhya Pradesh however small numbers can be found in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The word Pardhi is derived from the Marathi word ‘Paradh’ which means hunting and Sanskrit word ‘papardhi’ which means hunting or the game to be hunted. In some parts of India Pardhis are known as Meywarees. They also have various other names like Advichincher, Phans Pardhi, Phanse Pardhi, Langoli Pardhi, Bahelia, Bahellia, Chita Pardhi, Shikari, Takankar, Takia Pardhi. Pardhi tribe is divided in groups like Vaghri Pardhi and Phase Pardhi. These are further divided into subgroups like Pal Pardhi, Gav Pardhi, Takankar, Takari. Widely found surnames among them include Chauhan (Chavan), Rathod and Solanki.
Denotified Tribes are the tribes in India that were listed originally under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, as Criminal Tribes and "addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences." Once a tribe became "notified" as criminal, all its members were required to register with the local magistrate, failing which they would be charged with a crime under the Indian Penal Code.
Ganesh Narayandas Devy is an Indian cultural activist, literary critic and former professor of English. He is known for the People's Linguistic Survey of India and the Adivasi Academy created by him. He is credited with starting the Bhaashaa research and Publication Centre. He writes in three languages—Marathi, Gujarati and English. His first full-length book in English is After Amnesia (1992). He has written and edited close to ninety books in areas including Literary Criticism, Anthropology, Education, Linguistics and Philosophy.
Rudaali is a 1993 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Kalpana Lajmi, written by Lajmi and Gulzar and based on a 1979 short story of the same name by Bengali author Mahasweta Devi. Set in a small village in Rajasthan, the film stars Dimple Kapadia as Shanichari, a lonely and hardened woman who, despite a lifetime of misfortune and abandonment, is unable to express grief through crying and is challenged with a new job as a professional mourner. Raakhee, Raj Babbar, and Amjad Khan appear in supporting roles. Produced by the National Film Development Corporation of India and Doordarshan, the film was labelled part of India's neo-realist parallel cinema, but it employed several of the common elements of mainstream Hindi cinema, including songs composed by Bhupen Hazarika.
The Banjara are nomadic tribes found in India.
Shashwati Talukdar is an India-born academic-filmmaker based in New York City, with more than twelve films and videos to her name, and who has become well known on the international film-making stage, particularly for her documentaries on cultural identity and representation.
The Sabar people are one of the Adivasi of Munda ethnic group tribe who live mainly in Odisha and West Bengal. During the colonial period, they were classed as one of the 'criminal tribes' under Criminal Tribes Act 1871, and suffer from social stigma and ostracism in modern times.
Since the 1870s, various pieces of colonial legislation in India during British rule were collectively called the Criminal Tribes Act (CTA). These criminalised entire communities by designating them as habitual criminals.
Lodha people are one of Schedule Tribes and PVTGs of India, primarily living in West Bengal and Odisha. Lodhas of West Bengal mostly live the Paschim Medinipur and Jhargham districts. A section of the Lodha has converted to Islam, and formed a distinct community called the Lodha Muslims.
The Vagri are a tribe and caste found in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat in India, and in the province of Sindh in Pakistan.
The Koli is an Indian caste found in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir states in India. Koli is an agriculturist caste of Gujarat but in coastal areas they also work as fishermen along with agriculture. In the beginning of 20th century, the Koli caste was recognised as a denotified tribe under Criminal Tribes Act by the Indian Government because of their anti-social activities during World War I.
The Kuravar is an ethnic Tamil community native to the Kurinji mountain region of TamilNadu and Kerala, India.
Sabitri Heisnam is an Indian stage actor and one of the notable theatre personalities in Manipuri theatre. She has also acted in the critically acclaimed short film, Scribbles on Akka (2000), directed by Madhusree Dutta, which won the IDPA Award, best script award at Shanghai International Film Festival and the National Film Award for Best Anthropological Film. She is a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award of 1991. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for her contributions to Manipuri theatre.
Sameer is the 2017 Bollywood drama film directed by award-winning documentary maker Dakxin Chhara at his directorial debut. The film premiered at the New York Indian Film Festival (2017). The film stars popular actors like Zeeshan Mohammed Ayyub, Subrat Dutta, Anjali Patil, and Seema Biswas. Produced by Nomad Movies, Sameer had its theatrical release in India on 8 September 2017.
Mittal Patel is an Indian activist from Gujarat. After her studies, she began to help people from indigenous tribes to integrate into society. In recognition of her work, she was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2018.
The Vaacha: Museum of Voice is an indigenous museum located in Tejgadh village, Gujarat. The museum is part of a larger initiative called the Adivasi Academy, which is an offshoot of the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre based in Vadodara. The museum aims to preserve Adivasi history and culture which otherwise historically has been undocumented because most indigenous communities do not have a written script and therefore much of their traditions and worldview are at risk of decaying. The present director of the initiative is the visual artist and craft revivalist Madan Meena.