Kesari 2 was made with the intention to highlight Sankaran Nair's courage and bravery, says director Karan Singh Tyagi: ‘Our goal was pretty clear'

Indian Express

03-05-2025

Kesari Chapter 2, directed by Karan Singh Tyagi, stars Akshay Kumar as C Sankaran Nair, who fought against the British Empire after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The film, which is based on the book The Case that Shook the Empire, has been adapted for the film and at the ongoing Waves Summit 2025, Karan explained how he balanced 'facts with drama' for the film. During the SCREEN panel discussion titled 'Old Ghosts, New Generation: Portrayal of Colonial History in Indian Cinema and its Relevance', Karan said that his core intention with making the film was to honour Sankaran Nair's courage and bravery.
'So one of my screenwriting heroes, Aaron Sorkin, said that movies on real-life events and real-life people need not be photographs. They can be paintings. Because a photograph is accurate representation of that period but in a painting, one gets more freedom, more latitude to create drama, to create interpersonal dynamics, which is what we set out to do,' he said and explained his goal with making the film.
'Our goal was pretty clear. Our goal was that the country needed to know about Sankaran Nair and in order to do that, we also had the family's blessings with us because the book that we were adapting, 'The Case that Shook the Empire, was written by Sankaran Nair's great-grandson. So we went on to create a transformational arc for the character by understanding insights from his life where Sankaran Nair goes from a point of being a British aristocrat, somebody who was knighted by the British empire into becoming the country's biggest patriot,' he said.
Karan mentioned that they were careful about not deviating from the realities of the massacre that happened at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919. 'We were very mindful that we were not deviating from the factual realities of Jallianwala Bagh so everything that you see about Jallianwala Bagh in the film is accurate and is taken from the book,' he said.
In the same chat, Karan also spoke about his intention to make a film about Sankaran Nair's courage and bravery. 'We wanted everyone in the country and the world to know about Sankaran Nair's courage. So every decision that we took, every fact that we adapted was to honour his bravery, was for the country to understand his fight, his struggle,' he said.
Kesari Chapter 2 also stars Ananya Panday and R Madhavan.