This film is part of the 2012 International Summer Institute. Over 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. Not only does the film show the power of art as a tool for resistance and social change, it also takes us inside Chhara society to reveal a community in transition. Made over a five year period, during which the filmmakers worked in close collaboration with their subjects, Please Don't Beat Me, Sir! exposes the tensions that exist between an older generation who did whatever it took to make ends meet and young people for whom theater offers a new world of opportunity.