Image courtesy of Black Ticket Films
We may live in an era of fake news and rapidly declining trust in media sources but Writing With Fire (sold internationally by Autlook and in the US by Submarine) reminds us of just how vital journalism can be to democracy and human rights. Co-directors Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh talk to BDE.
The film, a world premiere in Sundance, tells the uplifting story of Khabar Lahariya (KL), a digital news agency in Uttar Pradesh in India, run by women journalists from the Dalit community. That is the lowest caste whose members are described as ‘untouchable.’ They are near pariahs, yet formidable characters like tenacious Chief Reporter Meera and Suneeta, a natural journalist, have turned KL into a thriving organisation.
Filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh stumbled on an online story about KL in 2015. They were immediately curious about its account of women distributing newspapers in the “arid landscape” of Uttar Pradesh. They contacted the editors. It was good timing. After 14 years of print, the publication was about to shift to digital. The filmmakers were invited to attend a meeting in 2016 at which this transition was discussed. That’s where they first met the three women who became the main protagonists of the film, Meera, Suneeta and Shyamkali, and other journalist.
“These were rural women, semi-literate, most of whom had never seen a phone camera, now talking about digital workflows,” Thomas points out. “We were very intrigued by what is the dream that these women want to achieve.”
On the one hand, this is the story of the growth of a media company. On the other, it’s a very personal study of three women and the obstacles they must overcome to pursue their journalistic careers. Their families aren’t supportive. Husbands and fathers want them to stay at home. They don’t have the resources of other news agencies. They’ll often travel to the sites of breaking stories by foot, bus or rickshaw, not in cars. They’re up against the misogyny of the caste system and the chauvinism and corruption of the politicians. However, they now have “the unfettered power of the internet” (as Ghosh puts it) at their disposal. That gives them their opening in their David and Goliath battle.
Meera is described by Thomas as “a natural leader, very grounded, rooted and with such lovely leadership qualities.” In her understated way, the Chief Reporter knits the team together and ensures that high journalistic standards are maintained. Suneeta is “young, very ambitious” and “a force of nature” who doesn’t hesitate to challenge authority. Shyamkali, meanwhile, “embodies the nervousness, the fragility that comes with someone who doesn’t pick up everything quickly.”
The KL journalism is hugely effective. Their reports will often prod recalcitrant authorities into providing water, roads or electricity in remote rural communities. “Not only do they report on something that needs to be fixed or is missing. They also keep following up,” Thomas says.
Thomas and Ghosh have been collaborating for many years. They went to the same film school, studied together and worked on their Masters’ thesis film together, titled Flying Inside My Body (2008), about Indian photographer Sunil Gupta.
“Rintu and I had a blast making that film together,” Ghosh remembers. In 2009, they formed Black Ticket Films together. Through the company, they now work on branded content, advocacy and social impact films. Once every few years, they also make what Ghosh calls “a project of the heart.” Writing With Fire falls into the category.
The film has taken five years to put together. They knew from the outset that this would be a tough assignment, if only because the landscape of Uttar Pradesh was so dusty, hot and forbidding. They shadowed their journalist protagonists, often shooting in two parts of the state at the same time. They used lightweight equipment in order not to be “obtrusive” when shooting in potentially volatile situations.
In documentaries or stories about the Dalit community, the women tend to be represented as victims or survivors. Thomas and Ghosh were determined to show them in another light, as strong, dignified and courageous.
It’s a disappointment to the directors that, because of COVID, they won’t be able to take their reporter protagonists to Sundance. Meera, Suneeta and co. would surely have charmed and impressed the media and public in Park City just as they have done in India. Nonetheless, they still hope to travel in person to other international festivals later in the year. They also plan to show the doc at both film schools and journalism schools across India.
Writing With Fire is bound to draw yet more attention to the cruelty of the caste system. “How do you fight a 3,000-year-old system of hierarchy and injustice?” Thomas asks. “You’ve got to start small and [take] one step at a time. The fact that these women have re-imagined another possibility is, in itself, a huge success. If you are a Dalit woman, you are practically invisible. You are outside the system, and you are doubly disadvantaged. You don’t have access to education and a host of other things that completely disenfranchise you. So, to reclaim all of that, one thing at a time, and not aggressively, both with grace and consistency, is how, I think, you change the world!”
