Behind the celluloid is a real-life hero whose name history almost let slip into oblivion, Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, a man of law and unrelenting courage. If you’ve never heard of him, you’re not alone. But once you know his story, you’ll wonder how you ever missed it.
Based on the book The Case That Shook The Empire
by Raghu Palat and Pushpa Palat (Nair’s great-grandson and great-granddaughter-in-law, respectively), the film explores a remarkable—and largely forgotten—chapter of India’s freedom struggle. It picks up in the harrowing aftermath of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and follows Nair’s audacious attempt to bring justice to the victims… from a courtroom in London.
Yes, you read that right.
While India reeled from the trauma, Nair, who was then the only Indian member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, resigned in protest. A bold move at a time when most Indians were still cautiously treading around colonial power. But Nair wasn’t most Indians. His resignation made headlines, lifted martial law in Punjab, and forced the British to finally investigate their own atrocities.
But that wasn’t all.
In 1922, he published a scathing critique of British rule titled Gandhi and Anarchy, wherein he placed direct blame on Michael O’Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, for the massacre. That didn’t go down well with O’Dwyer, who sued Nair for defamation in one of the most high-profile civil trials of the time.
The trial at the Court of the King’s Bench in London lasted over five weeks, with Nair represented by Sir Walter Schwabe, a seasoned legal warrior. The presiding judge, Justice McCardie, made no attempt to hide his bias. And the all-English jury was not exactly impartial. Nair lost the case, was fined £500, and ordered to pay court costs. But when O’Dwyer offered to waive the penalty if Nair issued an apology, Nair refused.
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In losing the case, Sankaran Nair won something far more powerful—a moral victory. His stand exposed colonial brutality on a global stage and added fuel to India’s growing demand for independence.
Born in 1857 in Kerala’s Palakkad district, Nair was no ordinary lawyer. He was a reformer, a visionary and a firebrand. He became one of the youngest presidents of the Indian National Congress in 1897 and the only Malayali to ever hold the position. He challenged caste barriers, defended inter-religious marriages and refused to play to the tune of either the Brahminical elite or British overlords.
His legal career was marked by judgments that were as bold as they were progressive. His 1914 verdict in Budasna v Fatima, where he ruled that converts to Hinduism could not be treated as outcastes, remains a landmark ruling in Indian legal history.
Yet, despite his accomplishments, he is rarely spoken of in the same breath as Nehru, Gandhi, or Patel. Perhaps because he didn’t fit the mould. He was too blunt for politics, too rebellious for the establishment and far too fearless for the British.
Directed by Karan Singh Tyagi and produced by Karan Johar, the upcoming film, a spiritual successor of Kesari (2019), stars Akshay Kumar as Nair, with R. Madhavan playing his legal opponent and Ananya Panday in a key supporting role.
More than a century after Jallianwala Bagh, British MP Bob Blackman recently called for a formal apology from the UK government. And perhaps this film will remind the world why that apology is long overdue.
Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair died in 1934. His legacy didn’t make it to school textbooks. His portrait doesn’t hang in Parliament. But he stood up when few dared to. And in doing so, he shook the very foundations of an empire that had convinced itself it would never be questioned.
Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh releases on April 18, 2025
