BAROKHAR KHURD, India — In a remote region in northern India infamous for water scarcity, debt-burdened farmer suicides and attacks by dreaded armed robbers, an all-women journalist collective led by Dalits, formerly untouchables, has quietly scripted a small revolution.
The organization’s work — spanning parts of two of the country’s poorest states, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh — has exposed environmental degradation caused by illegal stone mining, ensured delivery of public services like health care in isolated villages, showcased the vibrancy of rural life and helped rape victims get justice by questioning police inaction.
Now, a documentary on their crusading journalism is in the running for the Oscars. “Writing with Fire,” by filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, is the first Indian-made film nominated in the documentary feature category at the Academy Awards.
“Khabar Lahariya is different, because it reports from a feminist lens,” said Kavita Bundelkhandi, 37, the organization’s editor and co-founder. “We amplify the suppressed voices. We strengthen our democracy.”
Over the years, the group has trained about 500 rural women in journalism. Its current team of 20 reporters include women who were never formally educated, domestic violence survivors, and a former child worker at the local stone quarries. When the team went digital in 2016, they had to start learning afresh: Until then, no one owned a smartphone, and few had used phones at all.
“Writing with Fire” follows three women reporters as they learn how to use smartphones while navigating a profession dominated by men. Breaking gender and caste barriers, the women question politicians and officials as they build a loyal viewership.
The Oscar nomination for the film came as a surprise for its creators. “This moment speaks to the power and resonance that the story has had amongst a very diverse audience globally,” Thomas said.
On a recent afternoon, Meera Devi, Khabar Lahariya’s managing editor, a 36-year-old mother of two teenage daughters, stared in concentration at her smartphone to review a report about an electricity outage in a far-flung village. A villager had reached out to her, and she tweeted at the authorities, apprising them of the problem. The responses came swiftly, and action was promised.
But there was still no electricity the next morning. Devi posted another tweet. Finally, that night, electricity was restored in the village.
“When we call the authorities, they don’t listen to us. They demand money first,” said Lalaram Patel, a villager featured in the news report. “That is why I contacted [Khabar Lahariya] for a solution.”
Devi traveled to the village with a colleague. People complained that power outages were frequent, that sometimes there would be no electricity for days. Women shared how hard it was to work without power.
Sitting in the middle of a bare mud-floor room that functions as their office on the outskirts of Banda city, 370 miles from the national capital, Devi said that few in mainstream media track stories after reporting.
“We always do follow-ups,” Devi said. “This helps ensures accountability.”
But creating a space for themselves in rural India was not easy. It is rare for rural women to hold jobs and even more unlikely for them to be in the field of journalism.
In a scene from the film, reporter Suneeta Prajapati is the only woman in a crowd of men, one of whom questions her journalistic credentials as she attempts to report on dangerous road conditions. In another sequence, as Prajapati questions a police official over a death in a mine blast, a male journalist in the room tells her to focus on positive stories.
But, over the years, the nature of challenges the women have faced has slowly changed.
“Earlier, the administration would be dismissive of us,” Devi said. “Now they are scared of our work.”
The biggest battle for the women, however, has not been on the field but inside their homes.
Devi was married at the age of 14 and had to fight her parents and in-laws to be able to continue studying after marriage. Her daughter was born when she was in 12th grade, and she begged her grandmother to look after the child so she could attend class.
Now, she has a job while her husband is unemployed.
“There has been a sea change in my family. Women weren’t involved in the decision-making process,” Devi said. “Now, my word is accepted.”
In other instances, financial independence had enabled some to buy land or homes in their names. Property is typically in the name of the men in rural families.
As Sunday’s Oscars ceremony approached, media attention and congratulatory messages poured in. But parts of the group’s portrayal in the film have been challenged by Khabar Lahariya.
“It is a story which captures a part of ours, and part stories have a way of distorting the whole sometimes,” the organization said in a statement this week. Several sequences in the film depict the organization’s work in the backdrop of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindu nationalist politics and deepening polarization within Indian society.
The statement said Khabar Lahariya, in its 20-year history, has questioned everyone in power and that the focus on one party did not reflect its values. The film, which has not yet been released in India, is available in theaters in the United States.
Even as the film may be poised to make history at the world stage, Bundelkhandi said, her benchmark was different.
“We are living life on our own terms because of Khabar Lahariya,” she said. “Isn’t that revolutionary in itself?”

