Budhan Stories Season 1

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a collective of performing artists and filmmakers belonging to India’s ‘ex-criminal’ DeNotified Tribes associated with Budhan Theatre, began documenting and broadcasting the experiences of their communities that were being aggressively erased from the mainstream imagination. Under the umbrella of ‘Budhan Stories’, this collective produced a series of films in indigenous languages distributed through community social media platforms addressing the experiences of pain and loss and providing information and entertainment in a time of crisis. Filmed in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, largely in lockdown conditions, Season I focuses on the experiences of the Chhara DNT community. Episodes focus on themes like the experience of quarantine, the impact of lockdowns on livelihoods, the changes in death rituals, or the specific implications of the pandemic on women and children and include performances, storytelling, original songs and public health information related to Covid-19.