There is a moment in Writing with Fire when Meera, the chief reporter for Khabar Lahariya—India’s only news publication run exclusively by Dalit women—shows her young daughter one of her publication’s news stories and asks her, “what can you make of this?” Her choice of words might not strike you, but they seem indicative of a mindset that women in India are working hard to instill in future generations. Notice how she doesn’t ask her daughter what she thinks of this, but what she can make of this.

The time for thinking is what the women of India are trying desperately to move past. As has been observed in any area of the world under socio-political distress, thoughts alone, even when well intentioned, can be seen as silence, obduracy, and even complacency, and when complacency is taken as the prevailing mood amongst the people, then the residing “ways of the world” will persist. For the women of Writing with Fire, the ways of the world are deeply ingrained products of male ideology, rigid caste systems, and the dominant religion – not exactly minor obstacles to overcome. But the reporters of Khabar Lahariya are resolute in making something of their situation; they use their journalism to take direct aim at these institutions and make accountable the systems of control that ignore, suppress, and sometimes directly attack women and lower caste societies.

Directors Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas follow the women of Khabar Lahariya—particularly, Meera and two of her most promising reporters, Suneeta and Shyamkali—as they probe the controversies that their male-dominated news world blatantly ignores. During a press conference regarding a rape case, for example, a male reporter tells the intrepid young Suneeta that she should “always pamper an official with praise.” This is just one of many instances throughout the film where Ghosh and Thomas, who take a very unobtrusive approach in their filmmaking, capture blatant instances of men working to silence victims. That Ghosh and Thomas should take a backseat approach in these scenes should not be interpreted as their indifference, though – the Khabar Lahariya journalists are there to do the investigating; Ghosh and Thomas are there to highlight their process, their progress, and help us understand the broader goals.

The result is filmmaking that is sparing on stylistic flourishes, but is nonetheless highly accessible, clear, and well serving of its subjects. From a Western perspective, issues facing India only seem to make it on the radar if situations have gotten dire—the recent resurgence of COVID-19 in the country, for example—and so Writing with Fire adopts an easily digestible style that brings to the fore the lesser-known, less digestible news stories that don’t typically reach us. By making the film about Khabar Lahariya’s transition into the digital world and charting their accomplishments on platforms like their YouTube channel, the directors also encourage viewers to engage with the news stories beyond the film itself, where the real grassroots work is being done. The pen has always been the journalist’s sword, but in a digital age, a smartphone can be wielded to similar effect, and this is why the Khabar Lahariya reporters are always shown with phones in hand, taking direct aim with their cameras at the issues their powers would prefer to have their women forget.

Because of the news stories disseminated by Meera and her team, infrastructure has been brought to under-developed villages, rapists and murderers have been convicted, alternate perspectives now help characterize India’s news stream, and the outdated definition of a journalist as an “upper caste man” is being reevaluated. There is still much work to be done, of course—Meera acknowledges that her daughter will not be able to escape the caste system that she has been born into—but the work is being done. With Meera as a mother and with women like Meera behind Khabar Lahariya (Meera has since become Bureau Chief of the publication), young women across India will continue to do more than just think about the predicaments at hand. The future is still being written; the future is still being made.