A new movie,It’s only 47°C,seeks to make the audience feel the exhaustion, isolation and endurance of those living in extreme heat. “We wanted viewers to sit with these characters, experience their calmness and resilience, and ultimately give people who are often ignored a face and a voice,” says its director Tej Sisodia.
The film follows the lives of people who are often overlooked in urban spaces, including traffic policemen, rickshaw pullers and roadside vendors. Sharib Hashmi, who plays the lead role of Lakshman Chaubey, a traffic worker, is seen bearing the brunt of a system that fails to curb the effects of climate change.
“The front lines are the invisible engines that keep our chaotic systems moving even in the heat, while the most privileged remain isolated behind air conditioners,” he says.
Class separation
According to Sisodia, the film deliberately shifts the conversation about climate change from abstract statistics to lived human experiences, and perhaps that’s why it doesn’t say which city the protagonist belongs to. “This is a story about the drowning, survival and silent suffering of our most vulnerable communities in the face of global warming, policy neglect and systemic inequalities,” he says.
Climate action becomes meaningful only when climate is translated into culture, says the film’s producer Harish Borah, who believes storytelling is a powerful tool to mitigate the uneven burden of extreme heat in Indian cities.
A little girl sitting in an air-conditioned car watches Chaubey, the traffic policeman, struggling in the heat. This five-second scene highlights the class divide—the film’s central theme—more than all the dialogue combined. The film portrays how a section of society is open to making ends meet, while the other half is privileged to be unstable about it.
The camera follows those who have no choice but to step out into the unforgiving heat. The sweat-soaked clothes of the policeman, domestic help, rickshaw puller and other frontline workers, their parched faces and brief moments of respite in the shade, spotlight their existential struggles to survive in an increasingly warming world.
“Zyada dhoop mein mat rehna”, is a luxury that some cannot afford. The film delves into the normalization of temperatures that have become a routine part of life for millions of people.
Lived experiences
Starting from his childhood in a small village in northern India, Sisodia says his lived experiences shaped his understanding of the stark contrasts between rural and urban life, inspiring stories rooted in everyday realities.
Having previously directed Raakhwhich was screened at many film festivals, Munna’s childhoodwhich premiered on JioStar, and Avniwhich had its world premiere at the 25th Santa Fe Film Festival in 2025, Sisodia’s latest opus turns its lens on India’s soaring temperatures and the invisible workforce that keeps cities running.
It’s only 47°C premiered at Mumbai Climate Week 2026. It is now touring festivals around the world supporting advocacy through performances with students, stakeholders and public institutions. It is currently available to watch on the Pocket Films YouTube channel.
“This film was born out of my personal observations,” says Sisodia. “It reflects the brutal summers I saw growing up in northern India, where the heat not only scorches the earth but also lives.” His father, who is a farmer, has experienced the harsh effects of the heat with dry land, less rain, debts and crop losses. The film shares the saga of a helpless farmer, sparking a conversation on deforestation, concrete jungles and more. During the conversation, a woman who runs a roadside stall, a worker and the farmer talk about the differences in their experiences – the film thus shows that climate change is not endured equally.
The film advocates comprehensive heat action plans for vulnerable workers. Entirely financed by Borah and Sisodia, with actors Naseeruddin Shah and Anushka Shah and Civic Studios coming on board as co-producers, Borah says they wanted people to “feel the human reality behind rising temperatures. Cinema has an important role to play in making climate change more personal and accessible”.
It’s only 47°Cis the result of Tej and Borah’s friendship and was born out of long conversations. The film also features a poem by Swanand Kirkire anchoring its emotional narrative.
Climate change is often measured in scale, but its most profound impact is felt in people’s lives. As the film ends, we see the tired, sweat-soaked policeman sitting in the street. For him, this is not a vacation; it’s not a battle won – that’s just how his life is.
