Film Screening: Please Don't Beat Me, Sir!

On October 6, 2016 the Georgetown India Initiative and the Department of English hosted a screening of Please Don't Beat Me, Sir!, a documentary about the Chhara youth of Ahmedabad in Western India, co-directed by English Professor Henry Schwarz.

Over 60 million Indians belong to communities imprisoned by the British as "criminals by birth." The Chhara of Ahmedabad 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 community.

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.

This event was hosted by the Department of English and sponsored by an India Initiative seed grant.

Henry Schwarz is a professor in the Department of English and a member of the India Initiative Faculty Committee.