Dakxinkumar Bajrange is an award winning filmmaker, playwright and an activist from the Chhara De-notified Tribes of Ahmedabad in the western part of India. He is a recipient of 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) awarded 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) from Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, and Bhasha Fellowship (2002-03) from Bhasha Research and Publication Centre to study art forms of nomadic and de-notified communities in Gujarat. He is also a recipient of South Asia Award called “Jeevika 2005” for his documentary film Fight For Survival. Currently, he works as an “Artistic Director” at BudhanTheatre ( www.budhantheatre.org ) and runs his film production house Nomad Movies Pvt Ltd. He has written and Directed 13 plays and Supervised 48 Theatre Productions of Budhan Theatre and performed more than 1000 shows in different parts of India. Ahmedabad Mirror nominated him for “Heroes of Ahmedabad” campaign for his work in the field of Theatre and social activism. As a Filmmaker, he directed 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, Anjali Patil. Sameer was released in theatres in India on 8th Sept 2017 and then released on Netflix platform from 1st Oct 2017 to 30th Oct 2019. It was also selected to screen in New York Indian Film Festival (USA), Charlotte Asian Film Festival (USA) and Indian International Film Festival of Queensland, Australia where he received “Best Director” award. Recently he has finished his three Socio-political documentary films (1) Bullet (2) The Last Man (3) Covid-19 Blame Game.
His academic and journalistic articles on Theatre and Films appeared in number of national and international journals/newspapers.
Some of the honorary positions that Dakxin has assumed are –
- Trusty, Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, Baroda
- Trusty, Trust for Tribal Art, Culture and Knowledge, Delhi
- President, National Alliance Group of Nomadic and De-notified Tribes. Delhi
- National Convener, DNT Adhikar Manch, Pune
- Managing Trusty, Vimukta, Ahmedabad.
- Managing Director, Nomad Movies Pvt Ltd.
- Coordinator (Western India), Rashtra Seva Dal
