Ankita M. Kumar

Ankita Mukhopadhyay Kumar

Investigative Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker
Founder, Akiray Pictures

Ankita M. Kumar describes herself as a “chameleon” at this stage of her career: an investigative journalist at heart who thrives on pursuing difficult stories, and a deeply visual storyteller drawn to documentary filmmaking. Through her production company, Akiray Pictures, she specializes in underreported narratives centered on marginalized communities.

Her first documentary, Far from Home, examines the lives of Afghan refugees in India. Directed by Kumar and produced by Emmy-winning producer Brent E. Huffman, the film later brought on Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah as Executive Producer. After an extensive film festival run in 2024, the project is currently seeking distribution. Across both written and visual journalism, her work consistently focuses on communities affected by conflict, displacement, and systemic neglect.

Finding a Path into Journalism

Kumar studied history as an undergraduate and initially envisioned a career in archaeology. She later recognized that her strength lay not in excavating artifacts, but in uncovering facts. Her entry into journalism was unplanned: immediately after graduation, she was offered a position as a television producer at one of India’s largest broadcast networks.

She later pivoted to digital media in 2015, anticipating the rapid expansion of the sector. That transition broadened her reporting scope and positioned her to cover some of the most consequential stories of the decade, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the global refugee crisis.

Reporting on Refugees, Conflict, and COVID

Over the past several years, Kumar’s reporting has centered on immigration and refugee communities, particularly Afghan refugees. She argues that journalism is one of the few mechanisms through which displaced and marginalized people can be heard. For her, coverage of conflict must move beyond headlines and geopolitics to document lived realities.

Journalism is the only way for the marginalized to speak up and get heard.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she reported extensively from India on systemic inequalities exposed by the crisis. Her work examined:

Public health management in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum
Migrant workers navigating lockdowns without employment
Nurses serving rural communities under extreme pressure
Diamond workers in Surat facing economic collapse
Dairy farmers excluded from record industry profits
The gendered health impacts of lockdowns in urban slums

This period shaped her global reporting trajectory and laid the foundation for her later documentary work. Her article reflecting on Afghan displacement alongside her grandmother’s experience as a Partition refugee won the 2023 Professional Excellence Award from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents.

Identity, Ethics, and Empathy

Kumar identifies as an immigrant, a person of color, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, a descendant of refugees, and the first woman in her family to work professionally. These intersecting identities inform both her drive and her ethical framework.

Her approach balances ambition with responsibility. During the production of Far from Home, she encountered the risks inherent in documenting vulnerable refugee communities.

When my original subject refused to be part of the film, fearing persecution from the Taliban, I let her walk away.

For Kumar, the safety of vulnerable sources outweighs any journalistic objective.

She also speaks openly about burnout after five years in the field, covering both COVID-19 and refugee displacement. Stepping back, she returned to her training in Hindustani classical music and expanded into musical theatre, opera, piano, and tabla. That artistic grounding has since informed new documentary explorations, including a developing project on Carnatic music.

Community and Ethnic Media

Kumar views community and ethnic media as foundational to the United States’ information ecosystem. In a geographically vast and socially fragmented country, she argues, local journalism sustains civic connection. While national media struggles to maintain relevance across regions, community news fosters belonging and accountability.

At a time when local outlets are shrinking and audiences retreat into algorithmic silos, she sees ethnic and community media as essential communicators that challenge isolation and strengthen democratic participation.