Kesari 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh Movie Review — Sucharita Tyagi

History ke ek chapater ko kaisey masaaledaar courtroom drama mein dikhaayein, yeh burden toh uthaa liya.

Lekin Bollywood ke ghise-pite courtroom drama template ko re-invent karne ki koshish karni bhi toh zaroori hai, ki nahi?

Does Kesari 2 manage to do that?

Inspired by The Case That Shook The Empire by Raghu and Pushpa Palat, in Kesari 2, Akshay Kumar is Sir Sankaran Nair, “angrezon ka chaheta” lawyer. Court mein khade khade do minute mein ek poet ko terroristghoshit karke jail mein dlawa de, aisa paka hua, manjha hua khilaadi, pun intended. So we are told, all his life, he probably has never questioned his morality. Until the Jallianwala Bagh massacare, shots from which are intercut with his knighthood ceremony. The moment, while not subtle, is perhaps the most effective piece of cinematic language used throughout the film, ki hero bhi villain ki hi side hai.

“Ek krantikari ko kitni asaani se aatankvaadi bana diya, vakil sahab,” the aforementioned about to incaracerated man says to Rai. The prosecutor replies “aapki kavitaon se desh nahi chalta,” and the response comes — “padhte rahiye, ek din yeh galat fehmi bhi door ho jaayegi”. This whole exchange gives you the promise of a prophecy. That we will find out how literature, art and dissent eventually do endure.

However, you soon realise, this is not to be.

There is an interesting ideological battle at the heart of Kesari 2. A courtroom fight between a powerful, knighted, rich Indian barrister and the British Empire itself, a Goliath vs Goliath. Taking place in the shadow of a massacre where thousands have died for no fault of their own. The Raj clearly is the perpetrator of the killings, but anyone who has a higher education and works for the crown, against India’s independence, is RESPONSIBLE. I do think this is what director Karan Singh Tyagi and co-writer Amritpal Singh Bindra were trying to get at. An attempt at a profound reckoning with the past, a layer of self-assessment and admittance of guilt that the more obviously jingoistic films like Chhava refuse to reckon with. So, to give credit, the film tries to reach for this depth and moral complexity.

But in its attempt to make this mirror mein looking palatable for a large audience, it fictionalises too freely, sermonises too often, side stepping one trap, while falling into another. The melodramatic national hero template likes of Akshay Kumar have now perfected. As such, beyond the interesting chapter in history the film is nestled within, Kesari 2 has little nuance or newness to offer.

Sankaran’s character arc, unfolds with too much convenience. For a man who has spent decades upholding colonial law, his sudden disillusionment feels unearned. His reactions to the horrors of British cruelty — racism, censorship, genocide — feel delayed. This was a man operating at the highest echelons of the Raj. Could he really have been this surprised? This simple minded?

Acha also, this very loud film doesnt allow space for silence, and hence there is no pause introspection. Everything is always happening. Unlike the gut-wrenching final sequence in Shoojita Sircar’s Uddham, the Jallianwala Bagh massacre sequences here only serve as a mere backdrop for one man’s change of ethics; a larger commentary on the brutality of foreign occupation is lost. This, despite the liberal usage of the term “genocide” when referring to the 1919 incident. Hearing it repeated in 2025, when the term itself is so contested in present-day global politics, lands with a certain weight, yes. The film doesn’t draw explicit parallels to current events, but the word lingers, each time it is said out loud.

However, unlike the other release this week, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, also a period piece, the fictionalising of the past in Kesari 2, doesn’t jump out from the screen as an indictment of how the world continues to function today.

Akshay Kumar is an able actor and as such brings gravitas to the role, but there’s an internal struggle missing, remaining largely vague. But be assured, when he DOES decide to show up for the right reason, the song in the background is about a lion waking up.

Ananya Pandey as Dilreet Gill is a junior lawyer, and while her performance is sincere, her diction and voice-over sound too contemporary for a story set in 1919.

R Madhavan, as oppsotion lawyer also vying for laurels, says the most effective line of dialogue in this film, I paraphrase. “the thing about law is, you can break it. All you need to do it find out which one Sankaran is breaking right now”. The law, like power, is never neutral, and hence can be manipulated, a million glaring examples stand before us currently in global politics.

So, there is value in trying and naming injustice. Agar complicity vs intention ke kuch thoughts dimaag mein aate hain film dekh kar, toh accha hi hai, karo kuch chintan manan, aur bataao.

The film ends with a post-script claiming Sankaran Nair “single-handedly” fought the British Empire till his dying day. It’s a nice sentiment, apt for a Bollywood film.

So, on a scale of 1 to 10, Kesari 2 is…….36th battalion mein ladne waale ek ghayal jawan ka naam is film mein hai Jaan Nisar Akhtar. For a second, I was like, oh wait, did I not know this about this celebrated poet that he was a uniformed officer? Then I was like, wait, this is 1919, the timeline doesn't match up. THEN I realised, its not Jaan Nisar Akhtar, it’s just a guy named Jaan Nisaar Akhtar. Now, I haven’t read the book this film is adapted from, if you have, please tell me if there was ANOTHER Jaan Nisar Akhtar who lived and is talked about in our history?