Dakxinkumar Bajrange is an award-winning filmmaker, playwright and activist from the Chhara De-notified Tribes of Ahmedabad in the western part of India. He is a recipient of a Ford Foundation International Fellowship (2010-11) to study Graduate studies in ‘Theatre and Global Development’ at the University of Leeds, UK. His book ‘Budhan Bolta Hai’ (Budhan Speaks) was awarded first prize for "Mahatma Gandhi Best Creative Writing on Human Rights" by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for 2010-11. He is also a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Arts Fellowship (2004-05) from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, and the Bhasha Fellowship (2002-03) from the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre to study art forms of nomadic and de-notified communities in Gujarat. He is also a recipient of the South Asia Award called “Jeevika 2005” for his documentary film Fight For Survival.
He has written and Directed 13 plays, Supervised 52 Theatre Productions of Budhan Theatre and performed more than 1000 shows in different parts of India. Ahmedabad Mirror nominated him for the “Heroes of Ahmedabad” campaign for his work in the field of Theatre and social activism. He was nominated by the members of the public for a fellowship for Freedom of Expression, INDEX, UK in 2018. As a Filmmaker, he directed more than 120 fiction and non-fiction films/TV programs on various developmental, social and political issues of India. He directed his debut critically acclaimed Bollywood film "Sameer", starring Zeeshan Mohammed, Seema Biswas, and Anjali Patil. Sameer was released in theatres in India on 8th Sept 2017 and then released on the Netflix platform and is now available on Prime Video He received the “Best Director” Award at the Indian International Film Festival of Queensland, Australia. His films are widely screened in festivals across the world and won a number of awards.
His academic and journalistic articles on Theatre and Films appeared in several national and international journals/newspapers.
This first collection of creative texts on communities that were criminalized 150 years ago by the Criminal Tribes Act includes plays, translated excerpts.
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Chhara women don’t trust the police. If we earn enough, we can at least pay the bribe, and keep them away.........
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The documentary films of Indian filmmaker Dakxin Bajrange Chhara focus,.........
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