‘Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh’ Review: Blunt-Edged Drama About an Indian Tragedy Occasionally Hits the Mark

In one of the many courtroom scenes in Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh, a judge says, “No need for any theatrics here.” He, of course, doesn’t understand that theatrics are the lifeblood of one of Indian cinema’s favorite genres — the legal drama. For decades, successive generations of viewers have watched these films for the games of one-upmanship and the thunderous speeches, with Sunny Deol’s “taareekh pe taareekh” (“date after date”) scene from Damini remaining the gold standard 32 years after the film’s release.

Thankfully, Kesari Chapter 2 star Akshay Kumar — once again playing the role of a savior and true-blue patriot — doesn’t listen to this judge. As lawyer and statesman C. Sankaran Nair, he proceeds to deliver high-decibel theatrics which aren’t very realistic, but which are satisfying to watch, especially when he deploys expletives against the British. Though these events take place more than a hundred years ago, the F-word was apparently already a choice insult.

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For debut director Karan Singh Tyagi, impact matters more than historical fact or authenticity — which is perhaps why Kumar is playing a Malayali, which is a stretch even though Tyagi has him don a Kathakali costume. Despite the miscasting, the actor delivers. Nair isn’t a one-note character. When we first meet him, he’s a loyal subject of the Crown. But the horrors of Jallianwala Bagh create an existential crisis, and a freedom fighter in a black coat is born. This is one of the more complex characters in Kumar’s recent filmography (his last two films were Sky Force and Singham Again) and it’s refreshing to see him play a vulnerable, broken and weeping soul instead of a one-man army. Even though little about Kumar’s demeanor suggests the 1920s, there is conviction in his anguish for his country.

By all accounts, Nair was extraordinary. He was a brilliant lawyer and statesman, and the only Indian to become a member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. His son-in-law K.P.S. Menon, India’s first foreign secretary, once described Nair as a radical among radicals.

In 1922, Nair published Gandhi and Anarchy, in which, among other things, he criticized British policies in India — particularly the actions of Michael O’Dwyer, who as Punjab’s lieutenant governor was seen as complicit in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that had taken place under the orders of brigadier-general Reginald Dyer. In 1924, O’Dwyer filed a libel suit against Nair in the London High Court. Raghu Palat and Pushpa Palat recount this incredible story in their book, The Case that Shook the Empire: One Man’s Fight for the Truth About the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, and argue that even though Nair lost the case, it boosted the Nationalist cause and brought to light globally the atrocities that were being committed by the British in India.

Kesari Chapter 2 is based on this book, but it is a fictionalized account of these events. The case is shifted from London to Punjab, presumably so the language spoken can be Hindi. Tyagi and co-writer Amritpal Bindra additionally create a worthy opponent for Nair in R. Madhavan’s advocate Neville McKinley, an Anglo-Indian lawyer with a traumatic backstory. Once minute McKinley is a washed-up alcoholic, and the next he’s in court putting Nair in his place. While the writing is superficial, I’m enjoying Madhavan’s late-career dark turn — he plays gray guys with panache.

As a storyteller, Tyagi isn’t too fussed about making his plot persuasive — the ease with which Nair and his co-counsel Dilreet Gill, played by Ananya Panday, manage to uncover evidence defies logic. And somehow Tyagi even manages to include a nightclub number with a slinky dancer, played by none other than ace fashion designer Masaba Gupta. She looks lovely, but the song is an unnecessary speed bump.

The filmmaking is also obvious and manipulative. The restrained horror of Shoojit Sircar’s Sardar Udham, which had an extended, shiver-inducing sequence set in Jallianwala Bagh, has no place here. Tyagi pushes buttons in the most predictable way — and sometimes, it actually works. The most heartbreaking thread is the story of a young boy who loses his family in the massacre. Tyagi weaves it with delicacy, and the performance by Krish Rao locates the naïve courage and innocence of youth. In addition, Panday finds the required gravitas as a defiant lawyer. But despite Sheetal Iqbal Sharma’s spiffy costumes, few of these characters actually feel like they are in a period film.

Somewhere in Kesari Chapter 2 is the riveting story of a man who stood against an empire, but it comes alive only intermittently. The film also adopts an unfortunate and unearned self-righteous tone, especially in the credits. Consider this the equivalent of a blunt-edged instrument which occasionally hits the target — especially if you don’t ask too many questions.