#517 - The Chhau Champ
by Vibha Batra and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan
“The Chhau Champ” by Vibha Batra and illustrated by Priya Kuriyan. Published by Duckbill. An endearing story of a feisty girl who is determined to learn Chhau despite her father’s insistence that it is not meant for girls.
Chhau is a type of semi classical Indian dance with martial and folk traditions. The stories enacted by performers include those from the puranas, the epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana and other Indian literature. Masks are used as part of the costume. Shubhashree is a feisty girl determined to learn Chhau. Her father is a Chhau ustaad and has his own troupe. But this has not been of any benefit for Shubha so far as her father wants to teach the dance only to her brother Shayon. He has always believed that the dance is meant only for boys and girls are not supposed to be doing it. Shubha however isn’t going to give up easily and wants to be a part of the troupe somehow.
Shayon did not have interest in performing and he was being forced to learn. He wants to play football and dreams of playing for Mohun Bagan someday. Shubha has tried persuading her father to let her learn on several occasions to no avail. He is not ready to listen and change. He has always dreamt of Shayon bringing name, fame and honour to their family as well as village by becoming a Chhau ustad. Can Shubha convince him that she deserves to pursue her passion and learn Chhau? Is there hope for girls like her who want to perform this dance? Will Shayon get to play football? Read the engrossing story to find out all of these.
The fast paced narrative and feisty characters were the highlights of the book. My 9.5 year old son was hooked to the plot and found it very relevant and relatable. He kept rooting for Shubha whenever she stood up for herself or her mother. He also hoped that Shayon would be allowed to play football and not forced into learning something that he wasn’t interested in. Shubha’s eagerness, standing up for justice, righteousness, courage, determination, passion and curiosity were highly infectious and made her an endearing character instantly. Gender bias when it comes to choosing a profession or learning something is the main theme of the story. The story also gave us a glimpse into the lives of artists who face so many difficulties and challenges due to the uncertainties in their line of work in terms of opportunities to perform. We got to know about a dance form from Eastern India (West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha) thanks to the book. The accompanying illustrations complemented the narrative beautifully bringing the characters and the settings alive. The book is part of the “Hole Books” series which is meant for children who have begun reading chapter books independently.
We discussed about several other books based on the gender bias theme that we have read earlier such as “A Pair of Twins”, “Sadiq Wants to Stitch”, “Kolam Kanna”, “Pinkoo Shergill Pastry Chef”, “How to Reach Mars and Other Impossible Things”, “Cadet No 1 and Other Amazing Women in the Armed Forces” and “The Girl Who Loved to Sing : Teejan Bai”.
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 7 and above.
Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Penguin India (Duckbill), for review. Thank you to Mansi, from Penguin, for sending across the book!