Civic Studios, known for producing films like Gurinder Chadha’s Christmas Karma, UK’s Oscar entry Santosh, IFFR Netpac winner Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust marks its presence as the Climate Media Innovators with its short film It’s Only 47°C on climate inequality in urban India

The film, screening at the first edition of Mumbai Climate Week (MCW), India’s first platform dedicated to accelerating climate action across Mumbai, is part of Civic Studios’ larger movement to use compelling storytelling to spark public engagement and drive climate awareness and action~

The short film starring Sharib Hashmi (The Family Man) is written-directed by Tej Sisodia, produced by Naseeruddin Shah, Anushka Shah (Founder Civic Studios) and Executive Produced by Harish Borah and anchored by a powerful poem by Swanand Kirkire~

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Tej Sisodia, Naseeruddin Shah, Harish Borah & Akshata Samant will be moderated by Devashish Makhija~

Civic Studios has created a Climate Media Ecosystem, a multi-platform approach to climate storytelling designed for scale and impact~

Civic Studios, a global media company with a vision of creating entertainment to engage and empower. Incubated at the MIT Media Lab, USA, marks its presence as the Climate Media Innovator with the screening of their short film It’s Only 47°C as part of the first edition of Mumbai Climate Week, (MCW), India’s first platform dedicated to accelerating climate action across Mumbai.

The film studio based out of Mumbai & London, has produced films like Gurinder Chadha’s latest international musical feature Christmas Karma, UK’s Oscar entry Santosh, IFFR Netpac winner Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust.

Civic Studios latest film It’s Only 47°C explores the climate inequality through its character traffic constable Laxman Chaubey, in a city pushed to a breaking point by extreme heat, an exhausting shift reveals a brutal truth that climate change is not endured equally.

The short film starring Award-winning actor Sharib Hashmi (The Family Man) is written & directed by Tej Sisodia, produced by Naseeruddin Shah, Anushka Shah, Executive Produced by Harish Borah. andanchored by a powerful poem by Swanand Kirkire, the film offers an intimate portrait of climate inequality in urban India.

The screening will be held on 4th February 2026 at Redbulb Studios, Andheri West and will be followed by a panel discussion with Tej Sisodia, Naseeruddin Shah, Harish Borah, Akshata Samant & Shishir Joshi (CEO & Founder, Project Mumbai) will be moderated by Devashish Makhija.

It’s Only 47°C is part of Civic Studios’ larger movement to use compelling storytelling to spark public engagement and drive climate awareness and action.

Civic Studios has created a Climate Media Ecosystem, a multi-platform approach to climate storytelling designed for scale and impact with Children Animation – adapting Indian children’s environmental books into short animated films, designed specifically for classroom viewing, Rural Radio – HAAT BAAT- an audio storytelling series that highlights successful stories of resilience and climate action from rural India, EDTECH Integration – working with leading Indian EdTech platforms to integrate positive environmental messaging directly into their learning ecosystems, Social Media Climate Fund, Climate Media Fund of approximately INR 10 crore provides grants to leading Indian studios, film producers, and streamers to integrate climate messaging into mainstream films and series.

Anushka Shah, CEO/Founder of Civic Studios says, “As Civic Studios we came onboard to produce this film because of its stark reminder that heat doesn’t affect the rich and the poor equally. The film is part of our larger slate of climate change stories to help galvanise climate action urgently.”

Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah who has produced the shorts adds, “I would not think twice before supporting such a project because it is made out of such honest concern and conviction.”

About the short film

It’s Only 47°C is a short film set against an unforgiving urban heatwave, following a traffic constable whose everyday routine exposes how extreme heat is endured very differently across class lines. Through quiet, observational moments, the film reveals the invisible labour and physical toll borne by those most exposed to rising temperatures.

Civic Studios’ Climate Media Ecosystem

This year, Civic Studios has been experimenting boldly and intentionally with how climate stories are told, who they reach, and where they live. Instead of only focusing on climate crisis narratives, its work centers stories of resilience, adaptation, and just transition, meeting people where they already are: classrooms, social media, radio, and mainstream films and TV shows.

Together, these experiments form what we call Our Climate Media Ecosystem, a multi-platformapproach to climate storytelling designed for scale and impact.

Children’s Animation

Civic Studios has begun adapting successful Indian children’s environmental books into short animated films, designed specifically for classroom viewing.

The first pilot adapts Miracle on Kachua Beach, a story inspired by the Versova Beach clean-up movement. The film introduces children to themes of empathy and care for nature,importance of clean beaches for people and marine life, and leadership and collective action.

This pilot was screened in schools across Pune in partnership with AltEff and Youth Cosmos. Each screening was followed by a bespoke engagement session designed by Civic Studios, helping test how animated climate storytelling can spark discussion and awareness among young learners.

Audience: School-going children
Format: Short animated (AI)film
Distribution: Partner schools, NPO’s, EdTech
Festival Recognition: Jury Special Mention at AIFF and IFFI Goa 2025; Official Selection at Kids First Film Festival, Goa Short Film Festival, and Himachal Short Film Festival.

EDTECH Integration

To reach children at scale, Civic Studios is working with leading Indian EdTech platforms to integrate positive environmental messaging directly into their learning ecosystems.

Through partnerships with such platforms that reach millions of young children, climate positive values are woven into everyday learning experiences not as add-ons, but as part of stories, characters, and play.

Audience: Early learners across India
Format:In-app storytelling & learning content
Distribution: EdTech platforms

Rural Radio – HAAT BAAT

Civic Studios team developed Haat Baat, an audio storytelling series that highlights successful stories of resilience and climate action from rural India.

The series focuses on locally rooted solutions from farming practices to water management told in familiar voices and languages.

Haat Baat is distributed by Graam Vaani, a nonprofit with a rural radio reach of over 12 million calls across North India.

Audience: Rural communities
Format: Audio stories & radio programming
Distribution: Community and rural radio networks, IVR Platforms

Social Media Fund

Through a Social Media Fund via pooled philanthropic funding, Civic Studios will provide grants to social media creators and influencers to produce climate-positive content.

By supporting creators who already speak to large, engaged audiences, we enable constructive climate narratives to travel organically across platforms like Instagram.

Audience: Social media users
Format: Influencer-led content
Platforms: Instagram

Climate Media Fund

Civic Studios has announced a GBP 1 million (approximately INR 10 crore) Climate Media Fund, created through pooled philanthropic funding.

The fund provides grants to leading Indian studios, film producers, and streamers to integrate climate messaging into mainstream films and series.

Inspired by traditional product placement models, this approach embeds climate change linked themes and solutions at a dialogue, scene, or plot level, guided by climate scientists and media experts ensuring accuracy without compromising storytelling.

Audience: Mass entertainment audiences
Format: Films, TV & OTT series
Approach: Climate-integrated storytelling

Why This Matters

Climate narratives shape climate action. By expanding where and how these stories are told from children’s classrooms to blockbuster screens, Civic Studios is building an ecosystem where climate action feels relatable, possible, and collective.

This year’s work is experimental by design, laying the groundwork for scalable, culturally rooted climate media for the years ahead.

About Civic Studios

Civic Studios is a global media company with a vision of creating entertainment to engage and empower. Incubated at the MIT Media Lab, USA, the studio develops, produces and financesfeature films, streaming shows and short digital content with a distribution reach across digital platforms, theaters and streamers.

The studio’s current projects include ‘Christmas Karma’ (Christmas musical directed by Gurinder Chadha starring Kunal Nayyar with Eva Longoria and Hugh Bonneville), ‘In The Shadows’ (biopic of boxing champion Ramla Ali, directed by Emmy and trip BAFTA-winning Anthony Wonke, starring BAFTA-winning Jasmine Jobson), ‘Family Aaj Kal’ (comedy drama show streaming on SonyLiv; ranked in top 10 Indian streaming shows in release week), ‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust’(Indo-French-German animation feature film; world premiere at International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2024; NETPAC award winner for Best Asian Film, voiceover artists include Karan Johar, Shekhar Kapur, Anurag Kashyap), ‘Little Thomas’ (feature film starring Rasika Dugal and Gulshan Devaiah), Daughter of Eden (an Arabic-English feature film by writer-director Berlinale talent Fateme Ahmadi, produced by Shudder Films of Kneecap, developed with BFI and BBC Film), Ikhatte (starring Barun Sobti) amidst many others. Past releases also include ‘Santosh’(shortlisted as UK’s official entry for the Oscars 2025, writer-director Sandhya Suri nominated for Outstanding Debut award at BAFTA 2025), ‘Vakeel Babu ’ starring Abhishek Banerjee (streaming on Amazon) and ‘Ye Saali Naukri’ (MXPlayer).

The studios has a growing slate of Climate Change Media across formats of children’s content via schools and edtech platforms, rural and community radio, social media for youth action, and grant-based incentives for climate messaging in films, television, and digital content, all with a goal of providing hopeful and action oriented climate messaging.

The studios also runs a successful pop culture and impact brand on instagram with a community of over 340K followers. In addition to creating content, Civic Studios creates collaborations towards media & impact with support from grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies, and has further partnered with Pocket Aces via a strategic investment for positive content.

Civic Studios is a women-led production house with a 70% female team with offices in Mumbai & London.

About Mumbai Climate Week (MCW)

Scheduled for February 17th to19th, 2026, MCW marks India’s first platform dedicated to accelerating climate action across Mumbai, India, and the Global South. MCW brings together climate-focused organizations, movements, and innovators to spotlight scalable, locally rooted climate solutions, positioning Mumbai as a leading voice for climate action in the Global South.