Kesari Chapter 2 based on the novel does take cinematic liberties with the addition of Ananya Pandey’s Dilreet Gill and also the ending where C Sankaran Nair actually lost the case, nevertheless both the novel and the movie have successfully captured the quest of one man’s fight for justice along with the political environment of the period

The Jallianwala Bagh episode will always remain a major blot in the history of mankind. Many unarmed people protesting peacefully were shot by the army of monster Dyer, till date the scars remain with British refusing to apologize for the dastardly incident. The Case that Shook the Empire for those who haven’t seen the movie or read the novel follows the judicial fight of prominent Indian lawyer C Sankaran Nair (full name Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair. Apart from being a lawyer he was the leader of Indian National Congress too in 1897. Sankaran Nair also served in the viceroy’s executive council. However after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre Sankaran Nair stepped out of the viceroy council fighting a long case against the British authorities.

A strong aspect of this crisp but impactful novel is the depiction of events leading up to Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Writers Raghu Palat and Pushpa Palat have given a context to the mass genocide of Jallianwala Bagh by providing an insight on how Indian soldiers were recruited for World War 1 with large promises, the novel is successful in making the readers feel the pain and sufferings of Indian people much like Kesari Chapter 2 movie.

Special mention must also be made of how the two writers have etched the character of C Sankaran Nair with all his idiosyncrasies, his blunt nature while dealing with people including the Britishers has come out well. On more than one occasion his blunt and strong persona is very palpable. Here it has to be mentioned that Raghu Palat is the great grandson of Sir Sankaran Nair.

The novel also dwells into the ideological differences between Sankaran Nair and Mahatma Gandhi in an impactful way. Both of them were contemporaries with contrasting stand points on the Indian independence movement. Nair openly opposed Gandhi on his non violence stance specifically in the context of Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

The ending of the novel with Sankaran Nair losing the case is heartbreaking in many ways. As readers you wish he had actually won the case like the movie Kesari 2. However that doesn’t happen, yet Sankaran Nair won a moral battle by bringing to light the atrocities of British government. His long judicial battle boosted the nationalistic cause.

Coming to the changes made in Kesari Chapter 2 there is no denying that director Karan Singh Tyagi has somewhat tampered with the novel, having said that the characters of both Ananya Pandey and R Madhavan do add an interesting layer to the movie specifically Annie as the idealistic young woman Dilreet Gill. Her scenes like the cross examination portion gives an edge to the movie.

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