Shashwati Talukdar

Please Don't Beat Me, Sir!

P. Kerim Friedman, Shashwati Talukdar

Over sixty million Indians belong to communities imprisoned by the British as "criminals by birth." The Chhara of Ahmedabad, in Western India, are one of 198 such "Criminal Tribes." Declaring that they are "born actors," not "born criminals," a group of Chhara youth have turned to street theater in their fight against police brutality, corruption, and the stigma of criminality — a stigma internalized by their own grandparents. "Please Don't Beat Me, Sir!" follows the lives of these young actors and their families as they take their struggle to the streets, hoping their plays will spark a revolution.

Bachpan: The Girl

Shashwati Talukdar

Maemi Nauriyal, Sujata Paul Maliah

Oblique, eerie and mysterious, 'The Girl' is about the violence and horror of childhood. The Girl lives in an isolated mansion in the woods in the mountains of India, with a woman, the 'Mad Lady.' This woman is her caretaker and watches her all the time. Their odd life is disrupted when the Mad Lady can see something she was previously oblivious to. Inspired by Indian Gothic greats like 'Mahal' from the forties and the European avant-garde films from the twenties, 'The Girl' is a gothic tale about the resilience of children.