MUMBAI: Lights, camera, resistance Vinay Shukla’s While We Watched is still making noise, and this time, on the hallowed grounds of Harvard. The searing documentary, which follows acclaimed journalist Ravish Kumar through the stormy corridors of a crumbling newsroom, has just clinched the 100,000 dollars Grand Prize at the inaugural Henry Awards for Public Interest Documentary.
Hosted by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard Kennedy School, the Henry Awards honour nonfiction storytelling that champions the public good with rigour and cinematic flair. While We Watched, a portrait of one man’s fight for journalistic integrity in the face of a fake news deluge, dwindling ratings, and institutional pressure struck a raw nerve with the jury.
The 2025 Henry Awards Jury comprising Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Mandy Chang, Petra Costa, Ron Nixon and Michèle Stephenson released the following statement about the winner of Grand Prize “While we watched is an exceptional cautionary tale that takes an unflinching look at the State’s violent crackdown on freedom of expression through the experience of a journalist who dares to defend his integrity. Ravish Kumar is an unforgettable character. His specific story manages to instantly transcend its locality and become a real time documentation of the attack against the free press. The film is a brave effort by the filmmakers that should serve as a warning to us all.”
Sharing his joy Vinay Shukla says, “It’s an incredible honour to receive the Henry Grand Prize especially from an institution like Harvard, which has long stood for intellectual rigour, public service, and the pursuit of truth. While We Watched is a deeply personal film not just about one journalist, but about what it means to hold on to your values when everything around you is shifting. We made this film against impossible odds: with no money, partners dropping out mid-production, and constant uncertainty about its future. To see it capture the zeitgeist the way it has over the past few years has been truly heartening. The film premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, and here I am in 2025 – still accepting awards for it. The prize money is the same as *Kaun Banega Crorepati*, so honestly, I feel like I’ve just won KBC – which is quite something, considering I wasn’t the smart sibling.”
Directed by Vinay Shukla and produced by Luke W Moody and Khushboo Ranka, the film had already made waves when it premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, bagging the Amplify Voices Award. But three years later, it’s still very much in the limelight garnering critical acclaim and now, a cash prize on par with winning Kaun Banega Crorepati.
A haunting meditation on modern journalism, While We Watched isn’t just a love letter to press freedom, it’s a sharp reminder of what’s at stake when truth becomes a casualty. And as long as voices like Ravish Kumar’s continue to echo through frames like Shukla’s, the battle is far from over.
