Akshay Kumar's Kesari Chapter 2 in trouble! FIR registered for ‘insulting' Bengal's freedom struggle

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar's film Kesari Chapter 2 landed in fresh trouble, two months after its release in theatre. A First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged against the film for allegedly ‘insulting’ and distorting historical facts of West Bengal and its freedom struggle, as per a report of Indian Express.

FIR lodged against Akshay Kumar's Kesari Chapter 2

Reportedly, Ranajit Biswas, a resident of Bidhannagar South has filed a police complaint against Kesari Chapter 2. The film was released on 18 April. It is now streaming on Jio Hotstar.

Going by the report, Biswas, a resident of Nabapally, Sector IV, alleged that the film falsely portrays revolutionaries Khudiram Bose and Barindra Kumar Ghosh in the film's courtroom scene related to the Muzaffarpur Conspiracy Case.

Kesari Chapter 2 allegedly insulted Bengal

As per the complaint, the film depicts Khudiram Bose and Barindra Kumar as “Khudiram Singh” and “Birendra Kumar” from Amritsar.

It mentioned that such “misrepresentation, particularly regarding Khudiram Bose who was executed and Prafulla Chaki who (died by suicide)" is an "insult' to Bengal and its freedom fighters who contributed towards independence. He further alleged that these inaccuracies spread misinformation and have the potential to create linguistic and regional tensions.

Reportedly, the case has been registered under sections 352 (intentional insult), 353 (1) (c) (public mischief), and 353 (2) (circulating false statements or information) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The makers are yet to respond to the claims.

Kesari Chapter 2

Kesari Chapter 2 is the spiritual sequel to the 2019 historical action film Kesari.

The chapter 2 stars Akshay Kumar, Ananya Panday, and R Madhavan.

The film is based on the book The Case That Shook The Empire by Raghu Palat and Pushpa Palat. Revolving around C. Sankaran Nair, it explores the lesser-known legal and emotional aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

The film saw a decent opening at the domestic box office, earning ₹7.75 crore on day 1. It gradually picked up momentum while competing with Sunny Deol’s Jaat and Emraan Hashmi’s Ground Zero at the ticket window.

The film is directed by Karan Singh Tyagi. It is produced by Dharma Productions, Leo Media Collective, and Cape of Good Films.

The Live Mint review of the film mentioned, without giving out too many details, “At the film’s centre is Sankaran Nair (Kumar), a respected Malayali lawyer who was part of the Executive Council. Troubled by the events in Punjab, Nair resigned from the council and, in 1922, wrote a book called Gandhi and Anarchy, in which, among other things, he blamed Michael O’Dwyer, then governor of Punjab, for the violence at Jallianwala Bagh. O’Dwyer filed a defamation suit, which was contested in England (Nair didn't defend himself, engaging a lawyer instead). This is detailed in a 2019 nonfiction book, The Case That Shook the Empire, by Raghu Palat and Pushpa Palat, which Karan Singh Tyagi’s film takes as its source. Yet, it tells a very different story.”