Shashwati TalukdarMenuHomeBlog4-9 & ½Shashwati Talukdar is an independent filmmaker whose recent films include ’Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir!‘ (2011) and ‘Wall Stories’ (2013).  Her work ranges from documentary, narrative and experimental and has shown at venues including the Busan International Film Festival, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and the Whitney Biennial. Shashwati worked as an editor in the film and television industry, where she got her start as an assistant editor for a TV show by Michael Moore. Shashwati has taught at NYU, Arcadia and Temple University. Visit Shashwati’s production company: Four Nine and a Half Pictures. Email Shashwati at: shashwati@fournineandahalf.comOver 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. (75 min. 2011) [Learn more.]Wall Stories TrailerWall Stories is about how a dispossessed saint, a newly minted gentry and generations of painters created a syncretic culture in the Western Himalayas.SynopsisWall Stories is a pictorial journey through the Garhwal region. Centered around Dehradun between the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, it tells the fascinating story of the history and culture of its people through mural paintings found in the area. Going from a portrait of Noor Jehan dressed as a Pahari lady, to depictions of the ‘Indar Sabha’ the first Urdu full length play, these painting from the end of the 17th to the 19th century these paintings defy the boundaries of low art and high art, religion and received history.‘Wall Stories’ uses imaginary conversations, treats the subject of the paintings as living subjects and plays with its subject matter to create an experience that transcends the parameters of traditional documentary.The Sound of BombsBased on the story 'The Ocean of Mrs. Nagai' by Sharbari Zohra Ahmed, 'The Sound of Bombs' is a meditation on war and the act of recovering pain and guilt in its' aftermath. Using archival footage from WWII propaganda films and travelogues about Japan from the 1950s, and video shot in contemporary Japan and Taiwan, this video explores the multiple legacies of violence.Screenings6th International Short Film Festival “Kharkov Lilac,” Kharkov, Ukraine. June 2014FD Zone, Mumbai, India. Dec 2013Rios Festival Internacional de Cinema Documental e Transmedia, Vila Real, Portugal. Nov 2013RangrootA teenaged crossdre