Dakxinkumar Bajrange is an award winning filmmaker, playwright, director and an activist from the Chhara De-notified Tribes of Ahmedabad in the western part of India. He recently awarded National Award by National Human Rights Commission, Govt. of India for his writing on Human Rights. He is a recipient of Ford Foundation International Fellowship (2010-11) for a Masters Degree in ‘Theatre and Global Development’ at the University of Leeds, England and recently his book ‘Budhan Bolta Hai’ (Budhan Speaks) is got first prize for Mahatma Gandhi Best Creative Writing on Human rights by National Human rights Commission (NHRC) for 2010-11. He is also a recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Arts Fellowship (2004-05) and Bhasha Fellowship (2002-03) to study art forms of nomadic and de-notified communities in Gujarat. Currently, he works at Budhan Theatre as a director, which is a community theatre group of the Chhara de-notified tribe of Gujarat and also works as freelance filmmaker and Theatre educator. As a Filmmaker, he directed 70 fiction and non-fiction films on various development and political issues of India. His films are widely screened in Film Festivals and universities in India and abroad. He is the winner of South Asia documentary film award Jeevika-2005 for his film ‘Fight for Survival’. His most recent film is on De-notified Tribes of India entitled ‘Birth 1871’ which recently screened in 11 USA and Canadian universities and 5 UK universities. From 2008 to 2010, He has worked as an Associate Director with renowned Documentary Filmmaker Mr. Rakesh Sharma on his three films on political issues of Gujarat (1) Chet’ta Rejo (2) Khedu Mora Re (3) Kesariyo Kono. Bajrange also runs his film company called Nomad Movies (p) Ltd which provides production and post-production facilities to make fiction and non-fiction films.
As India’s indigenous people join Hindu religious organisations, their gods are literally being broken. While conversion to Hinduism offers the allure of a better life, those who continue to follow their old ways have become ostracized by their communities. Their broken gods have lost the power to protect them from illness and scarcity.
In the 1950s the anthropologist David F. Pocock conducted fieldwork in Sundarana, central Gujarat, with a focus on the Patidar community. Sixty years later we returned to see what changed. Focusing on a young men’s search for a bride, this documentary is about a village’s intertwining with international forms of migration, seen from the perspectives of those who fail and…