Kesari 2 director calls Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘synthesis of history and fiction': ‘Films based on real-life events aren't supposed to be photographs'

Indian Express

21-04-2025

There's an ongoing conversation around Akshay Kumar's latest film Kesari 2, with many questioning whether it's a fictional story that uses real-life characters. The film stars Akshay in the role of lawyer SC Sankaran Nair, who legally fought the British Empire in the aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. In a recent interaction, the film's director Karan Singh Tyagi addressed the issue and called the film a 'synthesis of history and fiction.'
During an interaction with Bollywood Hungama, when Karan was asked if Kesari 2 is a 'synthesis of history and fiction,' he agreed and responded, 'You called it a 'synthesis of history and fiction' — and that's exactly what I wanted it to be. One of my screenwriting heroes, Aaron Sorkin, once said that films based on real-life events aren't supposed to be photographs. They can be paintings. In a painting, there's more room for interpretation, more latitude to dramatize and express an idea.'
Karan admitted that he took creative liberties so the film could reach a wider audience. He said, 'That's what I aimed to do. I wanted Sankaran Nair's story to reach as wide an audience as possible. With the support of his family, my co-writers and I set out to portray a man's journey from a British loyalist to one of India's fiercest patriots — someone who used the power of the courts to challenge an empire.'
Despite the criticism, Kesari 2 was hailed by several political dignitaries including Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and Minister Anurag Thakur during its screening in Delhi.
SCREEN review of the film by Shubhra Gupta read, 'While the film is clearly aligned with the Make India Great Again thinking, you can spot a couple of smartly subversive ideas nestling in there. A line about a joint 'Hindu-Muslim' celebration around Ram Navami which happened for the 'first time ' just before the massacre (apparently the dangerous thing that incensed the divide-and-rule British masters so much that it put the pre-planned executions at Jallianwala Bagh into motion, according to the film) tells us such a thing actually happened, something that seems like a receding hope these days. And both the British and Indian lawyers blow the bugle for 'freedom of speech': now where have we heard that phrase before? And can it gain currency again?'