Facts: David Batra
Occupation: Comedian, actor, screenwriter.
Age: 49.
Background in selection: Educated business economist but debuted as a comedian in 1994. Has subsequently appeared in television programs such as “Räkfrossa”, “Kvarteret Skata”, “Parliament” and “Talang”.
Current: In SVT’s “Hard weather”.
In five episodes, comedian David Batra travels to some of the most weather-exposed places on earth.
He visits Ojmjakon in Siberia, the world’s coldest inhabited place, and Furnace Creek in Death Valley, the Earth’s hottest place. He travels to the world’s most lightning-prone region in Uganda, chases superstorms in the US and goes to Bangladesh in the wake of the floods.
Why? Batra says that, like so many others, he reads about the climate threat and extreme weather in the newspapers almost every day and worries about what will happen to future generations.
— You are easily discouraged when you see how slowly climate work is progressing, but at the same time you know that people have lived with extreme weather for generations. It awakens a curiosity in me, and I wanted to see on the spot how the people in these places really feel and how they survive, he says.
David Batra travels to the world’s coldest place in Siberia in SVT’s “Hard Weather”. Press image. Experiences
Before the trip to Siberia, Batra was carefully examined by doctors to see if he could even cope with the extreme cold – minus 58 degrees. Several times during the recordings it was close to going really bad.
— Sometimes it was life-threatening, like when we accompanied some storm hunters in the United States. Or when it got a little panicky in almost 50 degree heat. But at the same time, it feels like I’ve had several lifetimes of experience in these years that we’ve recorded, says Batra.
However, he was not prepared for how emotional the trip to Bangladesh would be. When Batra and the team visited the country in August this year, it had just come through the worst rainy season in a century, and the water had just started to drain away.
— We met families who had lived together on a bed for the entire period, families who avoided eating because they couldn’t go to the toilet. I have seen similar situations in places during my travels to India, but I have never sat down and talked really closely about their experiences, he says.
Feel hope
David Batra does not see the fact that air travel all over the world was required to record a program about the climate as problematic. Because it is difficult to travel to the places in “Hard weather” without flying, he says:
— I’m admittedly a comedian, but when it comes to this job, I’ve seen myself as a journalist. It is clear that you can say that foreign correspondents should not go to certain places to report, but I think it is the wrong place to put the powder in when it comes to the climate, he says.
TT: What do you hope TV viewers will feel when they see “Severe Weather”?
“I want people to laugh, think, maybe get a little bit anxious, but above all to feel hope,” he says and continues:
— I wanted to investigate this without losing hope about the climate issue. Hopefully it will move forward with all the agreements and collaborations and the technology development that exists, but somewhere you also have to keep two thoughts in your head at the same time. We may have to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Footnote: “Hard weather” premieres on SVT1 on November 1.
David Batra. Archive image.