Kesari Chapter 2, starring Akshay Kumar, R Madhavan, and Ananya Panday, continues to be in public discourse even months after its April release. The Karan Singh Tyagi directorial is a courtroom drama based on the life of C Sankaran Nair (Akshay), a lawyer who challenged the British Raj after the horrific Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919.
The film has garnered effusive praise from author Chetan Bhagat, even as it faces serious accusations of plagiarism and historical inaccuracies.
Saying he “walked out shaken” from the film, Chetan wrote that the film “drags history out of textbooks and makes you feel it in your bones."
According to the makers, the film is based on Raghu and Pushpa Palat’s book 'The Case That Shook The Empire'. An excerpt from Cinema Express’ review notes that this “text details C Sankaran Nair’s defence against a defamation case” in London, filed by Michael O’Dwyer, Lieutenant Governor of Punjab during the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy.
The review further points out that while Sankaran Nair resigned from the Viceroy’s council, contesting the massacre, and condemned the Raj, the film portrays him as a powerful figure, 'who filed a genocide case against the British in the Amritsar district court'—a claim unsupported by historical records.'
Despite such historical discrepancies, Chetan continued his commendation, acknowledging the cinematic liberties taken.
"Sure, the film takes cinematic liberties. There are imagined confrontations, dramatized moments, and even some revenge fantasy. Think Inglourious Basterds in Amritsar. But the core truth remains: over a thousand Indians were trapped and massacred in cold blood by British troops in 1919. That horror is real. That pain is generational. And that silence from Britain? Also very real," he said.
The author went on to express a key sentiment the film evoked in him: the British government's continued refusal to apologise for the massacre.
"More than a century later, there's still no formal apology from the British government. Some have expressed 'regret,' but regret isn't remorse. Regret is what you feel when you spill tea. Not when you murder hundreds of unarmed civilians,” he wrote.
He also said, “An apology doesn't change the past. It doesn't weaken anyone. It strengthens trust. It acknowledges hurt. It tells the world you've grown.”
He also highlighted a particularly egregious aspect the film brought to his attention. "And then there was a facet the film made me aware of, the most disgraceful part: the cover-up. The colonial gaslighting. The British claimed the gathering was a threat. A 'security risk.' They called it necessary. Justified. That's like shooting a crowd of people in a park and blaming them for being there. This wasn't just violence - it was calculated, racist propaganda designed to make Indians feel like their own suffering was their fault."
Concluding his thoughts, Chetan passionately called for accountability. "The British left us poor, divided, and broken. That was history. But refusing to say sorry for Jallianwala Bagh - that's not history. That's arrogance in the present. I thank Kesari Chapter 2 for stirring this conversation again. For reminding us of the power of that word - and the disgrace in its absence. It's time the UK stopped hiding behind history books and faced the mirror. Say it. Own it. Sorry."
Chetan Bhagat's praise for Kesari Chapter 2 comes amid significant controversy surrounding the film. Yahya Bootwala has levelled plagiarism accusations against the makers, claiming that they included a part of his poem in the film’s dialogue with no proper credit or remuneration.
Furthermore, the Trinamool Congress has accused the film's makers of distorting West Bengal's contribution to India’s freedom struggle and insulting Bengali revolutionaries, adding another layer of scrutiny to the production.