AKSHAT DRAMA GROUP
EVERYTHING IS UNTOUCHABLE
(Exhibition - Designer, Host)
A live exhibition created to express the hypocrite thought process prevalent in society & instead of presenting history, we chose to showcase live incidences including the Delhi gang Rape, my brother’s accident wherein no one standing there was ready to touch his mutilated leg & yet could talk about him hopefully reaching the hospital, a cartoon comic video with an educated professor pushing away a poor man because he accidentally touched his hand & washing it in front of him. The tour of the exhibition ends with a choice, to accept the truth & hang the live statue to death or accept him, a man dripping with blood & gore.
PANKHI
मुझे उड़ने तो दो
(Theatre School and Workshop)
A theatre group formed by Akshat Drama Group for the street kids of Mirzapur, to give them a platform to develop and channelize their energies and focus from activities such as gambling to teamwork and performing arts.
It was a 3 month workshop including street plays, expert guidance, a documentary filming the experience felt by the kids & a grand finale performance.
CHOTU CHAIWALA
(Fiction Short Film - Writer, Director)
Inside a tea stall, one morning, Chotu dreams of education.
It is a story which ventures deep into education & human perspective. The country promises each & every citizen to provide education as the most basic right, a fundamental right. A right which a child has since birth, which he can claim, but the question is, from whom?
Screened on 14th November, 2015 at 10 cafe’s and Alpha One(now Ahmedabad One) mall in Ahmedabad.
Received place in top 10 short films to watch list by National Human Rights Commission in 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkVtKFucX4c
YOU DISCRIMINATE
Education starts at home, so does discrimination.
(Proscenium Theatre - Writer, Director)
A blend of forum theatre and street play, the 15 minute play turned into an hour long debate and saw fascinating participation from the audience at Seva Café & Conflictorium museum in Ahmedabad.
The play focused on discrimination inside the home for improving the roots is better than colouring the leaves.
Forum theatre gets the audience to re enact their reactions to the set situations in the play. It questions the audience & enables them to voice their thoughts.
KATHPUTLI KA KHEL
(Rural Culture - Event Organiser)
Puupet show performance by the Amdavadi rural folk of Akshat Drama Group was staged twice at Conflictorium auditorium and streets of Mirzapur. The performance gives a peek into the rich culture of India with kathputli dances and folk lore. Rarely known but equally entralling history is explored along with the traditional story of how puppet show evolved in India from Singhasan Battisi.
MARITAL RAPE
(Comic - Content & Design)
I AM ON SALE
Before my marriage, my father is my guardian. After my marriage, my husband is my guardian.
WHO AM I?
After an online & offline research conducted on 605 subjects, we published our research along with a comic series & the researcher’s experience as part of our #MaritalRape campaign on our website, blog & social media handles.
JUST THINK IT ONCE
(Play - Writer & Director)
On 31st May 2016, WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY
This play performance was created & enacted by Akshat Drama Group for GCS Medical College, Hospital & Research Center, Ahmedabad.
The play was performed at 4 locations on the day:
GCS Hospital Auditorium
Kalupur railway station
Divya Bhaskar House
Ahmedabad Management Association
Similar play were written & directed for associated occasions such as WORLD CANCER DAY.
YOUNG BHASKAR
(Marketing Campaign - Design & Execution)
The event was centred around Schools keeping in mind the young, learning audience of the magazine. Similar campaigns were conducted for other products and offers by Divya Bhaskar using various engaging and informative art forms.
A LITTLE LESS NORMAL
(Documentary - Researcher & Director)
In 2017, the government of India brought the Mental Health Care Act 2017 replacing the 1987 version. Many new rights were gifted, but how many gifts were opened? We explored Ahmedabad to match a paper with the map.
There should be an absolute right in all societies to be mad. I interpret this to mean not only that if one succumbs to mental illness, society should provide appropriate and sufficient care and welfare - whether it be in institutions or in the community - but also that society should be more accepting of people who are mad, those who are just, a little less normal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V5P12y-ZvI
KHURDARI KITAB
The last page poetry
(Poetry Book)
Every time I think of poetry, I hear the magic tune of Hogwarts in my head. Poetry is magic. Back then, a school princess with two pigtails used to wait for a white stallion in a class full of chalk & dusters. That girl lives in my book.
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07P8TPCJ7
जिजीविषा
काव्य से जीवन की दिशा
A poet’s poetry club at Akshat Drama Group’s studio in Ahmedabad.
STAY POSITIVE
(Producer - Garnering 10 Lakh views)
Racism, homelessness, sudden evictions, circulation of phone no’s of infected person’s family members were some of the major issues that we wanted to not let go without including more people in active roles, in awareness, in kindness,
And what better way than art to support a social cause.
Thus started Stay Positive Movement, went on for 2 months and garnered over 10 lakh views, with amazing artists from The Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico, Buenos Aires, London, Long Island (NY), San Francisco, Singapore, Dhaka
& India - Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Dehradun, Udaipur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Gandhinagar, Bhilwara, Chandigarh
Talented and socially responsible artists have joined hands to give a message to India -
#STAYPOSITIVEINDIA
Meanwhile, offline, we focused on finding and securing legal shelter for beggars, homeless people, and daily wagers during the coronavirus lockdown, eventually getting the order passed for the same soon after the online campaign started.
PHASE I - RIGHT TO FOOD AND SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS
PHASE II - RIGHT TO PRIVACY
PHASE III - वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्
https://www.facebook.com/watch/722396804620729/243320520156765/
https://www.facebook.com/flatandflatmateindia/videos/?ref=page_internal
