“One man. One courtroom. One empire rattled.”
Karan Singh Tyagi’s Kesari Chapter 2 is not just a cinematic sequel—it’s a reckoning. At the heart of this courtroom epic lies not a battlefield drenched in valor, but a legal war waged in the heart of the Empire itself. And at its center is Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, a name history almost let fade, now brought roaring back to life through a blistering performance by Akshay Kumar.
A Forgotten Flame, Rekindled
The film opens against the haunting backdrop of April 13, 1919—Jallianwala Bagh. The massacre is not merely reenacted but relived, not for shock value, but to ignite the moral questions that follow. As the colonial machine spins its web of silence and justification, one man dares to challenge it—not with weapons, but with law.
Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, a former member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, resigns in protest. In a time of subdued dissent, this was thunder in the stillness. His exit from power didn’t mark retreat, but the beginning of his most audacious battle yet—dragging the British Empire to court in London. A bold, nearly unthinkable move.
A Tribute Long Overdue
Born in 1857 in Palakkad, Kerala, Nair was among India’s sharpest legal minds — a judge, reformer, and one-time president of the Indian National Congress (1897). His progressive verdicts, including the landmark Budasna v Fatima, and his unwavering advocacy for social reforms, interfaith unions, and caste equality made him a legal outlier and political radical.
Yet, unlike Gandhi or Nehru, his portrait doesn’t hang in galleries. This film, in many ways, is reparative justice.
Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair did not live to see an independent India. But his courage was part of the chisel that cracked the imperial edifice. Kesari 2 ensures his name doesn’t disappear again into the footnotes of history
