⭐ Rating: 2.5/5
Director: Karan Singh Tyagi
Cast: Akshay Kumar, R. Madhavan, Simon Paisley Day, Ananya Panday, Regina Cassandra, Amit Sial, Alexx O’Nell, Steven Hartley, Krish Rao
Based on: The Case That Shook the Empire by Raghu Palat & Pushpa Palat
Kesari Chapter 2 – Detailed Movie Review
Introduction
Kesari Chapter 2 attempts to blend historical memory with courtroom drama, focusing on a lesser-known yet crucial chapter in India’s freedom struggle—the legal battle led by Sir C. Sankaran Nair after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919. While positioned as a thematic successor to the 2019 film Kesari, this instalment takes a vastly different route—trading bullets for barristers, and battlefield valor for legal fireworks.
Plot Summary
Set against the turbulent backdrop of post-massacre India, the film chronicles the events following the brutal killings at Jallianwala Bagh, where British troops, under General Dyer’s command, opened fire on peaceful Indian protestors without warning. The Crown finds itself on the defensive globally, and amidst the outrage steps in Sir C. Sankaran Nair (played by Akshay Kumar), a brilliant Indian barrister freshly knighted by the British.
Initially roped in to defend Dyer, Nair’s confrontation with ground realities and a pang of conscience lead him to switch sides. What follows is a pitched legal battle in British courts where Nair goes head-to-head with his former friend and now adversary, Neville McKiney (R. Madhavan), a composed, clever half-Indian, half-British lawyer who believes in the imperial system.
The courtroom sequences dominate the second half of the film, filled with thunderous one-liners, patriotic declarations, and dramatic reveals, all culminating in an emotional climax that reiterates the price of colonial brutality and the resilience of Indian resistance.
Performances
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Akshay Kumar delivers a performance that is powerful in flashes but ultimately repetitive. His portrayal of Nair feels more like an extension of his previous nationalist roles than a deeply researched character study. While his screen presence is undeniable, his version of Nair is more a cinematic hero than a historically rooted figure.
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R. Madhavan emerges as the highlight. As McKiney, he brings nuance, restraint, and gravitas, offering a calm foil to Akshay’s intensity. Their exchanges form the emotional and intellectual core of the film.
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Simon Paisley Day chews the scenery with his over-the-top but effective portrayal of General Dyer, perfectly capturing the disdain and arrogance of colonial power.
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Regina Cassandra, in a brief role as Nair’s supportive wife, brings dignity and warmth, though her character is underutilized.
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Ananya Panday, cast as a local female lawyer, struggles to adapt to the period setting. Her contemporary body language and diction feel mismatched, making her performance the weakest link.
Direction & Screenplay
Karan Singh Tyagi directs the film with a heavy hand, opting for heightened drama over subtlety. While the courtroom scenes are visually grand and emotionally charged, they often feel far removed from the tone and decorum of early 20th-century legal proceedings. The screenplay follows a predictable arc and is laden with populist punchlines rather than legal intricacies or historical complexity.
The film’s overt reliance on melodrama, stylized dialogues, and crowd-pleasing moments takes away from its potential to be a serious political drama. For instance, Akshay’s character repeatedly uses modern slang and even hurls expletives in a court setting—an implausible creative liberty that feels jarring in a historical context.
Themes & Social Commentary
Kesari Chapter 2 tries to weave in contemporary relevance by referencing themes like freedom of speech, Hindu-Muslim unity, and resistance to authoritarianism. A line about the pre-massacre communal celebration during Ram Navami serves as a subtle but pointed reminder of India’s shared heritage—an aspect that gains new meaning in today’s divisive climate.
However, these subtexts are often buried under a loud patriotic fervor, making the film more about cinematic nationalism than nuanced critique.
Technical Aspects
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Production Design & Costumes: The film’s visual world is impressively crafted. From colonial-era courtrooms to pre-independence India’s streets, the set design and costumes feel authentic and immersive.
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Cinematography: The camera work is polished, especially during the trial scenes where tight close-ups and lighting amplify tension.
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Music & Background Score: The score leans on rousing orchestration to match the film’s nationalist overtones. It’s functional, if not memorable.
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Editing: At over two hours, the film feels stretched, particularly in the mid-section. A tighter edit would have improved pacing.
Flaws & Missed Opportunities
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Historical Inaccuracy: The film’s liberties with language, courtroom decorum, and timeline dilute its credibility as a historical drama.
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Miscasting: Akshay Kumar, though earnest, does not convincingly transform into a Malayali barrister from the early 1900s. The absence of linguistic or cultural depth stands out.
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Over-dramatization: Dialogue writing is more suited to a mass-market action film than a serious legal-political story.
Final Verdict
Kesari Chapter 2 is a film that has its heart in the right place but falters in execution. It aims to tell an important story from India’s colonial past but drowns it in cinematic tropes, loud dialogues, and historical simplification. While the film succeeds in rousing nationalist sentiment, it fails to do justice to the complexity and dignity of the man it seeks to honor.
Watch it if:
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You enjoy courtroom dramas with loud dialogues and a patriotic tone.
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You’re an Akshay Kumar or R. Madhavan fan.
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You want a broad-strokes retelling of a significant but lesser-known freedom struggle episode.
Skip it if:
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You expect historical authenticity and nuanced storytelling.
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You’re fatigued by formulaic nationalist films.
⭐ Final Rating: 2.5/5 – A well-intentioned, intermittently engaging film that settles for surface-level impact over meaningful depth.