Kesari Chapter 2 filmmaker Karan Tyagi dissects the film ahead of its release

They were told to disperse They didnrsquot So I opened firerdquo That chilling line was reportedly uttered by General Reginald Dyer after ordering troops to open fire on thousands of unarmed civilians in Amritsarrsquos Jallianwala Bagh Over a century has passed since that April afternoon in 1919 but the brutality of the massacre continues to haunt Indiarsquos collective memoryFor lawyerturnedfilmmaker Karan Singh Tyagi who makes his big screen debut with Kesari Chapter 2 the story still remains as relevant as it was 106 years ago despite countless filmmakersmdashfrom Shoojit Sircar and Richard Attenborough to Ram Madhvanimdashhaving looked at the event from various lenses ldquoThe event speaks to the present times that we live in Itrsquos a posttruth world where fake news is rampant I was fascinated that when people read about the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy the next day the truth was suppressedrdquo says TyagildquoThere were regional newspapers that wanted to report the truth which got burned down Therersquos this famous poem written by a survivor called Khooni Baisakhimdashthe British Empire went to great lengths to ban that poem The Empire started spreading a fake narrative through their publications especially the English media where the victims were labelled as terrorists The whole narrative that the British Empire spun was that the people at Jallianwala Bagh were armed and General Dyer had to shoot in selfdefence I think itrsquos a fascinating story to bring to the people in 2025rdquo he addsTyagi centre directs Akshay Kumar in Kesari Chapter 2Tyagi wanted to look at it from two lenses ldquoOne is from the empire machinery and what they did preApril 13 and postApril 13 And the second is the human aspect of the tragedyrdquoIt almost seems like history is cyclical because in 2025 wars continue to be waged around the world We ask him if as a filmmaker he feels compelled to tell a larger tale ldquoWhen yoursquore true and yoursquore authentic to your own story the more specific the more real you make it it becomes universal This is the story of Sankaran Nair who was knighted by the British Empire And he was the only Indian member on the Viceroyrsquos executive council For him to then take on the British in the most dramatic of ways is a story of valour When he resigned from the council he told the Viceroy who can be compared to the PM today that lsquoyour empire is being run by yesmen so why donrsquot you make the jamadar replace mersquordquoBeing a student of law and politics his core interest has always been in stories that involve the state its fallacies tragedies and injustices ldquoI read the source material and was enamoured The book is called The Case That Shook the Empire Sitting down with the authors was key because they are the heirs of C Sankaran Nairmdashhis great grandson Raghu Palat and his wife Pushpa Palat I did my own independent research as well Therersquos a lot of literature on Jallianwala Bagh There is a Canadian author Kim Wagner who has written a fantastic book There is an Indian author whorsquos not gotten his due called VN Datta Therersquos Kishwar Desairsquos book There are independent accounts of survivors chronicled in the two commissions that were set up These materials uncover an argument that the film makes as well The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was actually a planned conspiracy to kill There was a plane that flew over the Bagh to check whether enough people had assembled There were troops called inmdashGurkha troops and Baluch soldiersmdashand the Sikh infantry was kept completely in the dark because they would be up in arms if they knewrdquoWe tell Tyagi about the documentary in which Caroline Dyer General Dyerrsquos greatgranddaughter is seen defending him ldquoThat interview really angered me She labelled the people who came to Jallianwala as looters The film is important because yoursquoll be shocked to know that the empire went into overdrive after the massacre They went to extreme lengths in order to laud General Dyer as a herordquoThe film started off as an independent movie despite being headlined by the original star Akshay Kumar ldquoDo you know Kesari is the colour of revolution For us the baton of revolution is being passed down to this story where one man is taking on the empire Revolution seems like a big term but its essence is quite simplemdashstanding up for whatrsquos rightrdquo says TyagiTherersquos a reason why Kumar is a superstar who has stayed at the top of his game for decades he says ldquoHersquos been incredible in his support for me I just want the audience to watch the film because I feel this is one of his best performances Hersquos heard stories from his grandfather from his father So he feels a personal connection to the tragedyrdquoThe film is a few days away from release and Tyagi says he and his writers Amritpal Bindra Sumit Saxena and Akshat Ghildial hope that the audience will take back the famous Pablo Neruda quote from Kesari Chapter 2 ldquoEmpires perish because they listened to their lawyers and ministers and not to their poetsrsquo Empires have to listen to the common people of this countryrdquoApril 13The day in 1919 when General Reginald Dyer opened fire on unarmed protesters at the Jallianwala Bagh in AmritsaratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params