As Bollywood gears up for the release of Kesari: Chapter 2 on April 18, 2025, all eyes are on Akshay Kumar, who steps into the role of Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair – a name that may not immediately resonate with many, but one that played a defining role in India’s fight against colonial oppression.
Directed by debutant Karan Singh Tyagi and produced by Karan Johar, the film is based on The Case That Shook the Empire, a historical account written by Nair’s great-grandson, Raghu Palat and his wife, Pushpa Palat.
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File photo of Chettur Sankaran Nair
At its core, the film highlights not only one of the darkest chapters in British colonial history – the Jallianwala Bagh massacre – but also the monumental courtroom battle that followed, spearheaded by a man of unshakeable convictions.
Born in 1857 in Mankara, a village in Kerala’s Palakkad district, Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair hailed from an aristocratic lineage with close associations to the East India Company. His early education led him to Presidency College, Madras, where he was drawn to the field of law.
He began his legal career in 1880 at the High Court of Madras under the mentorship of Sir Horatio Shepherd, who would later become Chief Justice. Nair’s brilliance and fierce independence quickly became evident.
Throughout his legal career, Nair was known for his refusal to conform. Early on, he opposed a resolution passed by Indian vakils (lawyers) of Madras that discouraged working under English barristers. For Nair, professional choices should be governed by merit and client interest, not nationalism or peer pressure. His stand led to his boycott by fellow lawyers, but he remained undeterred.
Nair was appointed Advocate-General and later became a judge of the Madras High Court. His judicial tenure was marked by bold judgments upholding inter-caste and inter-religious marriages, as well as rulings that challenged the rigid orthodoxy of caste-based discrimination. His 1914 ruling in Budasna v Fatima, where he held that converts to Hinduism could not be considered outcastes, remains a landmark judgment to this day.
In 1897, he became the youngest president of the Indian National Congress at the time and the only Malayali to hold the position. Nair was not afraid to ruffle feathers – be it among the Anglo-Indian elite, the Brahmin establishment, or the British authorities.
File photo of Chettur Sankaran Nair
He participated in the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms and advocated for increasing Indian participation in governance. By 1915, he was inducted into the Viceroy’s Executive Council, overseeing the education portfolio.
Yet, Nair’s political ideology was as nuanced as his legal career. While he believed in constitutional reform, he was critical of certain aspects of Gandhi’s political methods, particularly civil disobedience. This ideological divergence would later find expression in his controversial book Gandhi and Anarchy.
On April 13, 1919, British Brigadier General Reginald Dyer ordered troops to open fire on a peaceful gathering in Amritsar’s Jallianwala Bagh.
Hundreds of unarmed civilians, including women and children, were mercilessly gunned down. The massacre became a watershed moment in India’s freedom struggle.
A still from Kesari Chapter 2
At the time, Nair was the only Indian member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Appalled by the government’s justification of the massacre, he resigned in protest – a move unprecedented for its sheer audacity.
His resignation sent shockwaves through the colonial administration and lent weight to nationalist sentiments across the country. It also led to the removal of martial law in Punjab and the establishment of a committee under Lord William Hunter to investigate the massacre.
In 1922, Nair published Gandhi and Anarchy, where he criticised British colonial rule and laid blame on Michael O’Dwyer, the then-Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, for the atrocities at Jallianwala Bagh. Infuriated, O’Dwyer sued Nair for defamation in an English court.
What followed was a historic trial at the King’s Bench in London. The five-and-a-half-week-long case, the longest-running civil trial of its time, saw Nair being tried in front of an all-English jury presided over by a blatantly biased Justice Henry McCardie. Despite the skewed judicial environment, Nair stood his ground.
A still from Kesari Chapter 2
His lead counsel, Sir Walter Schwabe, mounted a spirited defence, though repeatedly interrupted by McCardie, who seemed intent on swaying the jury in O’Dwyer’s favour.
Ultimately, the verdict went against Nair – 11 jurors to one. He was fined 500 Pounds and asked to pay trial expenses. Yet, when O’Dwyer offered to waive the penalty in exchange for an apology, Nair refused.
He would rather pay the price than retract the truth. “If there was another trial, who was to know if 12 other English shopkeepers would not reach the same conclusion?” he said.
Though he lost the case, Nair emerged morally victorious. His defiance brought international attention to British atrocities in India and galvanised nationalist resolve back home. His loss was, in many ways, India’s gain.
Nair died in 1934, leaving behind a legacy that remains woefully under-acknowledged. His descendants continued to serve the nation: his grandson Kunhiraman Palat Candeth played a key role in the liberation of Goa in 1961, and other family members have held distinguished positions in Indian public life.
A still from Kesari Chapter 2
More than just a jurist or a politician, Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair was a man who refused to bend to injustice. In an era when many chose the safety of silence, he wielded his voice – and his pen – with courage.
With Kesari Chapter 2, his story will finally get the cinematic tribute it deserves. In an age of manufactured heroes, here is a real one. And his story, now more than ever, demands to be heard.
