Akshay Kumar’s latest film ‘Kesari Chapter 2’ has just dropped its teaser, and the actor is getting plenty of praise. The 2019 film ‘Kesari’ was inspired by the historic Battle of Saragarhi, while the new installment ‘Kesari Chapter 2’ depicts the brutal Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 and its aftermath. ‘Kesari Chapter 2’ is based on the book ‘The Case That Shook The Empire’ by Pushpa Palat and Raghupal Palat, and also stars R. Madhavan and Ananya Pandey.
The film features Akshay Kumar as the renowned lawyer Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, who not only spoke out against the massacre but also shook the British Empire. He didn’t just resign from his position on the Viceroy’s Executive Council, but also raised his voice against British atrocities. Let’s find out who the feisty lawyer Sir CS Nair was, the character Akshay is playing.
Who was CS Nair?
Born in 1857 in the village of Manakara in Kerala to a noble family, Nair received his early education at an English school in his hometown. After completing his schooling, he enrolled in the Presidency College in Madras. In the 1870s, Nair earned his law degree from Madras Law College and began his career at the Madras High Court.
CS Nair’s advocacy for the country
In 1887, he was elected president of the Indian National Congress. In 1907, he became the first Indian to be appointed Advocate-General of the Madras government and later became a judge in the same court. At the time of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, CS Nair was the Education Minister and the only Indian representative on the Viceroy’s Executive Council, a great honor for any Indian. When the massacre occurred, the press freedom was curbed in Punjab, and the British distorted many facts about the events.
CS Nair wrote – the country is not worth living in
But when the news reached CS Nair, he was deeply disturbed. In protest, he decided to resign from the Executive Council. In his resignation letter, he wrote, ‘If a country is to be ruled, it is necessary to massacre innocent people… and any civilian officer can call the army at any time and together they can commit a massacre like Jallianwala Bagh, then this country is not worth living in.’
CS Nair resigned
CS Nair’s resignation gave the British a jolt, resulting in the removal of Martial Law in Punjab. In 1922, CS Nair wrote a book called ‘Gandhi And Anarchy’, in which he accused Michael O’Dwyer of promoting atrocities during the massacre. Michael O’Dwyer was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab and had been dismissed and returned to England by then.
The case lasted 5 weeks
Following Nair’s allegations, Michael O’Dwyer sued him for libel, and the case was heard in the London High Court. The judge hearing the case was himself biased against Indians. The trial lasted for five weeks, the longest in court history. Since there was no unanimous verdict, Nair was given two options: apologize to O’Dwyer or pay 7,500 pounds, and he chose the latter. The film ‘Kesari Chapter 2’ is based on this case.
The case was not in Nair’s favor
Although the case did not go in CS Nair’s favor, his efforts to expose the massacre had an impact. From the abolition of press censorship and Martial Law to the investigation of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the feisty lawyer CS Nair’s fight made him a big personality.
