The Budhan Theatre
Budhan Theatre was founded on 31st August 1998 in commemoration of the day when India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, lifted the stigma of criminality from the settled tribes in 1952. A population of some 60 million of these “denotified tribes” can be found throughout India today. Since 1998, Budhan Theatre has performed street plays to raise awareness about the condition of such tribes. Their goal is to demonstrate that Chharas are not “born criminals,” they are humans with real emotions, capacities, and aspirations. Each of their productions has dramatized the events surrounding custodial deaths, abductions, beatings and torture of such tribes throughout the country. At present Budhan Theatre is reaching out to other similarly stigmatized communities and including their stories in its repertoire.
Nomadic and Denotified Tribes are well-versed culturally, but due to difficult living conditions they have lacked the opportunity to develop their cultural talent properly. According to theatrical director Dakxin Bajrange, himself a Chhara, these tribes have an innate and extraordinary talent for acting. While working with these tribes for many years he has found that their quality of facial expression, speech and gesture are unmatched by other communities. Traditional performers, their families have been acting for hundreds of years. Additionally, the youth now feel they are acting to change their lives, and in many real ways doing it to keep themselves alive. They are performing with what little they have — their bodies, their voices and their creative talent — to change their society so that they may have a future within it.
Meet the Community
These are some of the members of Budhan Theatre, their families and community.
In 2003, dramatist Dakxin Bajrange had done some plays criticizing police brutality. The inspector of the local police station threatened Dakxin with dire consequences. Later that year, Dakxin and his father were arrested on a trumped up charge.
Dadi, Dakxin’s grandmother. When she was a teenager, the entire family was arrested and put into a settlement in Maharashtra. Their nomadic way of life came to an end. The administrator of that settlement arranged her marriage with Dakxin’s grandfather and she came to the settlement in Chharanagar.
Roxy Gagdekar is a founding member of Budhan Theatre and a journalist at Gujarat Samachar.
Rukmini Gagdekar (left) is one of the few women commerce graduates in the community, she is going to school for journalism. Kalpana Gagdekar (right) isn’t formally schooled, which hasn’t stopped her from being a very articulate member of Budhan, and an award winning actress.andkal” />
Vijay works with the children of the community, he does not aspire to be an artist, and on our last trip to Chharanagar, Vijay was studying for the police department exams — an unusual choice for a Chhara, who are typically deeply suspicious and resentful of the police.
Sushil used to sell bootlegged liquor. His brother was killed in a gang shooting. He loves theatre but wonders if he will be able to support his theatre without any prospects for a decent job.
Vivek’s mother used to work as a thief, however she has managed to keep Vivek away from an occupation of petty crime. Vivek teaches theater in a local college to support his own education.
