About Khwaabgaon

Khwaabgaon, a picturesque hamlet nestled in the verdant forests of south-eastern Rārh merely 5 km from Jhargram railway station. Wrapped in solitude away from the clamouring harshness of modernity and machines, it is the latest project undertaken by Chalchitra Academy. Rapidly involving into a throbbing space for the urbanscape and the lokāyata to enter into a dialogue, the vision entails an open-air studio and setting up of a live-gallery where artists and dreamers from varied backgrounds can engage with the enchanting ādivāsi ethos and nature’s primal spirit, resulting in a mutual benefit of both. A secluded speck of huts scattered amongst the groves inhabited by the Lodha tribe, the place had long since suffered from an endemic history of chronic poverty, bureaucratic neglect and starvation. Originally called Lalbazar, the village bloomed into a site of vigorous socio-cultural experiment once the eminent scholar and writer Shibaji Bandopadhyay renamed it as “Khwaabgaon“. Chalchitra Academy, under the helmsmanship of the artist Mrinal Mandal has turned the hamlet into a thriving landscape of art, artisanship and financial outgrowth imbibed with a holistic dream of development and self-sustainability. Chalchitra Academy has introduced programmes for a wholesome lifestyle development of the villagers where they, especially the children, are being taught the praxes of Buddhist meditation, yoga and pranayam. Vocational training to the village folk is also been provided. Efforts are also being made to revive chāng, an ancient and indigenous form of performance art that entails a ritualistic and communal menagerie of dance, music, and vocalised chantings accompanied by drums resembling miniature mādals. On top of these there are ongoing efforts to economically empower the populace by setting up bank accounts for them and helping to get their individual ST certificates issued. Chalchitra Academy believes art can only be saved from the machinations of civilisation if the lokāyata fuses with the contemporary and only if the urban promises to rescue the traditional from the cruel clutches of socio-economic and ethno-cultural decay.