‘I
want
King
Charles
to
watch
the
film.’
Rediff‘s
Mayur
Sanap,
Hitesh
Harisinghani
and
Afsar
Dayatar
report
the
dramatic
events
at
the
Kesari
2
trailer
launch.
Akshay
Kumar
and
Karan
Johar
at
the
Kesari:
Chapter
2
event.
Photograph:
Hitesh
Harisinghani/Rediff
After
launching
the
trailer
in
Delhi
last
week,
Team
Kesari:
Chapter
2
got
together
for
a
media
interaction
in
Mumbai
ahead
of
the
film’s
Good
Friday
release.
The
historical
drama
which
promises
‘an
untold
story’
of
the
events
following
the
1919
Jallianwala
Bagh
massacre
sees
Akshay
Kumar
playing
the
real-life
figure
Chetty
Sankaran
Nair,
the
lawyer
who
took
on
the
British
Raj
to
seek
justice
for
the
Jallianwalla
Bagh
victims.
Karan
Johar
and
Ananya
Panday
at
the
Kesari:
Chapter
2
event.
Photograph:
Hitesh
Harisinghani/Rediff
At
the
event,
Akshay
said
he
wants
King
Charles
III
of
the
United
Kingdom
to
watch
Kesari
2
to
see
what
the
British
Raj
inflicted
on
Indians
106
years
ago.
“I
am
not
here
with
a
begging
board
for
them
to
say
sorry.
But
I
want
them
to
at
least
watch
this
movie
and
realise
the
mistake.
The
apology
is
bound
to
happen.
I
just
want
the
British
government
and
King
Charles
to
watch
the
film.
They
should
see
what
happened,”
Akshay
said.
WATCH:
What’s
Karan
Johar
angry
about?
Video:
Afsar
Dayatar/Rediff
Karan
Johar
was
addressing
a
recent
video
of
General
Dyer’s
granddaughter
in
which
she
called
the
victims
of
the
Jallianwala
Bagh
massacre
‘looters’.
Dyer
was,
of
course,
the
military
officer
who
ordered
his
troops
to
fire
on
the
Indians
who
had
gathered
at
Jallianwala
Bagh
on
April
13,
1919.
Ananya
Panday
who
plays
a
lawyer
in
her
first
period
outing,
said
she
had
read
about
the
Jallianwala
Bagh
massacre
as
a
student
but
after
being
a
part
of
Kesari:
Chapter
2,
she
has
finally
“understood”
a
lot
of
things.
Akshay
Kumar
and
Ananya
Panday
at
the
Kesari:
Chapter
2
event.
Photograph:
Hitesh
Harisinghani/Rediff
“I
don’t
think
I
am
the
same
person
after
being
a
part
of
this
film,”
Ananya
said
“As
the
younger
generation,
we
take
our
freedom
very
lightly.
But
something
changed
within
me
when
I
became
a
part
of
this
story.
People
who
sacrificed
themselves
for
the
freedom
we
have
today,
I
really
felt
the
weight
of
that.
I
really
understood
all
that.”
WATCH:
Karan
Johar
apologises
to
Ananya
Panday
Video:
Afsar
Dayatar/Rediff
Kesari
2
is
the
screen
adaptation
of
the
Sahitya
Sparsh
Awards-winning
book
The
Case
That
Shook
the
Empire,
authored
by
Sankaran
Nair’s
great-grandson
Raghu
Palat
and
his
wife
Pushpa
Palat.
The
film
marks
the
directorial
debut
of
Karan
Singh
Tyagi,
a
Harvard-graduate
lawyer.
Karan
Johar,
Akshay
Kumar,
Ananya
Panday,
Karan
Singh
Tyagi
and
Dharma
Productions
CEO
Apoorva
Mehta
at
the
Kesari:
Chapter
2
event.
Photograph:
Hitesh
Harisinghani/Rediff
Karan,
Akshay
said,
gave
up
his
profession
because
he
wanted
to
be
a
director.
Karan
Tyagi
added
that
he
always
wanted
the
Jallianwala
Bagh
massacre
as
the
subject
for
his
first
film.
“General
Dyer
fired
upon
innocent
people.
But
what
did
the
government,
the
Crown,
the
Empire,
do?
They
tried
to
protect
him.
They
labelled
the
people
as
terrorists.
So
it
was
at
the
government
level
that
everyone
wanted
to
protect
him.
Errors
are
made,
but
the
government
can
never
label
innocent
people
as
terrorists.
That
needs
to
be
rectified
with
their
apology,”
Tyagi
said.
Akshay
Kumar
at
the
Kesari:
Chapter
2
event.
Photograph:
Hitesh
Harisinghani/Rediff
“This
story
has
a
very
special
meaning
to
me,”
Akshay
says.
“My
father
was
from
Amritsar.
He
had
heard
a
lot
of
stories
from
my
grandfather,
who
saw
the
Jallianwala
Bagh
massacre.
My
father
passed
on
those
stories
to
me.
When
Karan
Tyagi
came
to
me
with
his
story,
I
immediately
decided
that
I
want
to
do
this
film,”
he
says.
WATCH:
From
Padman
to
Toilet:
Ek
Prem
Katha,
Akshay
Kumar
on
the
impact
of
his
films
Video:
Afsar
Dayatar/Rediff
