Sagari Chhabra facts for kids

Sagari Chhabra is a talented writer and film director from India. She has created many films, including fifteen documentaries and one fiction film. Her work has won five national and international awards, showing how important and impactful her stories are.

Films and Awards

Sagari Chhabra lives in New Delhi and makes films that focus on important social issues. These are problems that affect many people in society.

Exploring Important Issues in Films

One of her notable films is Hunger in the Time of Plenty. This film looks at a sad problem in India: people dying from hunger even when there is enough food in the country. Sagari Chhabra visited families who had lost loved ones to starvation. She wanted to understand what happened and how the remaining family members were coping. The film was shot in different parts of India, from the dry deserts of Rajasthan to the green forests of Orissa and the busy city of New Delhi.

Another film, Asli Azaadi, which means True Freedom, is 45 minutes long. This film tells the story of women who fought bravely for India's freedom from British imperialism. British imperialism was when Britain controlled India as a colony. The film was shot in the actual places where these historical events happened. It uses music and old video clips to bring the past to life. Sagari Chhabra says the film also talks about the "struggle for true freedom today." This film has been shown at big events like the Golden Gate Festival in San Francisco and the Norwegian Film Festival.

Her other films include The Word and the World, which is about Indian writers.

Where Her Films Have Been Shown

Sagari Chhabra's films have traveled all over the world! She has shown her movies and led workshops at universities in places like Yale, Chicago, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Delhi. Her films have also been screened at film festivals in many cities, including Copenhagen, Oslo, Umeå, San Francisco, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Miami.

Her Writings and Themes

Sagari Chhabra writes about many important topics. These include problems between different religious groups in India, which is sometimes called "communalism." She also writes about hunger and human rights, which are the basic rights and freedoms that all people should have.

Her articles have been published in well-known magazines and newspapers like South Asian Refugee Watch, Mainstream, The Book Review, and The Times of India.

Books for All Ages

Sagari Chhabra is the author of a book called The Professional Woman's Dreams. She also used to write a column about cinema and has written books for children. Her children's book, The Elephant Without A Passport, was chosen as a top entry in the International Chitrakatha Writing Competition. This competition received entries from all over the world! Her creative writing, including poetry and short stories, has appeared in Indian Literature by the Sahitya Akademi and The Little Magazine, which features alternative writing in India.

TATV and Archiving History

Sagari Chhabra runs an organization called Towards Alternative Thought and Vision (TATV) in New Delhi. She has advanced degrees from Washington State University and the University of Delhi.

In 2004, she received the Asia Fellowship. This allowed her to spend a year in Myanmar, Malaysia, and Singapore. During this time, she researched Indian freedom fighters who were still alive in Southeast Asia. She lives in New Delhi and is currently working on a very special project. She is creating the first audio, photo, and video archive of India's freedom struggle in the region. This means she is collecting and preserving old recordings, pictures, and videos that tell the story of how India gained its independence.