As for Bollywood’s release Kesari: Chapter 2 On April 18, 2025, all eyes are on Akshay Kumar, who steps in the role of Sir Chettur Shankaran Nair – a name that may not immediately resonate with many people, but one who played a defined role in India’s fight against colonial harassment.
Directed by debutant Karan Singh Tyagi and produced by Karan Johar, the film is based on the case that shook The Empire, which is a historic account written by Nair’s great -grandfather, Raghu Palat and his wife Pushpa Pet.
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File photo of Chettur Shankaran Nair
At its core, the film highlighted not only one of the dark chapters in the British colonial history – Jaliyanwala Bagh Massacre – but also the subsequent monumental court battle, which was handled by a person of unwavering conduct.
Born in 1857, Mankar, a village in Palakkad district of Kerala, Sir Chettur Shankaran Nair deprived the descendants of an aristocratic class with close associations of the East India Company. His early education took him to the Presidency College, Madras, where he was attracted to the field of law.
He started his legal career in 1880 under the mentorship of Sir Haratio Shepherd in the High Court of Madras, which later became the Chief Justice. Nair’s talent and fierce freedom quickly became clear.
During his legal career, Nair was known for his refusal. Initially, he opposed a proposal passed by Madras’s Indian Vaccities (lawyers), who discouraged working under the English barrister. For Nair, professional options should be controlled by merit and customer interest, not nationalism or colleague pressure. His stand led his boycott by fellow lawyers, but he remained unaffected.
Nair was appointed Advocate-General and later became a judge of the Madras High Court. Their judicial tenure was marked by bold decisions that maintains inter-caste and inter-religious marriages, as well as those regulations challenged the rigorous conservatism of caste-based discrimination. His 1914 decision in Budasana vs Fatima, where he said that cannot be converted into Hinduism, it is a historic decision to date.
In 1897, he became the youngest president of the Indian National Congress and the only Malayali to hold the post. Nair was not afraid to ruffle the wings – it should be among the Anglo -Indian Elite, Brahmin Establishment, or British authorities.
File photo of Chettur Shankaran Nair
He participated in Montego-Chemsford reforms and advocated to increase Indian participation in governance. By 1915, he was included in the Executive Council of Viceroy, overseeing the education portfolio.
Nevertheless, Nair’s political ideology was fine as his legal career. While he believed in constitutional reform, he was important for Gandhi’s political methods, especially some aspects of civil disobedience. This ideological deviation will later get expression in his controversial book Gandhi and anarchy.
On April 13, 1919, the British Brigadier General Reginald Dyer ordered the soldiers to open the fire at a peaceful meeting at Jalianwala Bagh, Amritsar.
Hundreds of unarmed citizens, including women and children, were mercilessly closed. The massacre became a watershed moment in India’s freedom struggle.
Still from Kesari Chapter 2
At that time, Nair was the only Indian member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Impressed by the justification of the government of the massacre, he resigned in protest – its sheer is unprecedented steps for the courage.
His resignation sent shockwaves through colonial administration and reduced nationalist sentiments across the country. It also inspired the establishment of a committee under Lord William Hunter to remove martial law in Punjab and to investigate the massacre.
In 1922, Nair published Gandhi and anarchyWhere he criticized and convicted the British colonial rule at the then latent Governor Michael O’Diver of Punjab for atrocities in Britishula Bagh. O’Divar sued Nair to sue Nair for defamation in an English court.
This was followed by a historic test at the Kings Bench in London. In the case of a five-and-a-half-week case of the longest civil testing of his time, Nair was being tried in front of an all-English jury, chaired by a biased Justice Henry McCardi. Despite diagonally judicial environment, Nair erected his ground.
Still from Kesari Chapter 2
His prominent lawyer, Sir Walter Schwabe carried out an enthusiastic defense, although repeatedly interrupted by McCardi, who looked like an intention to shed the jury in favor of O’Dwire.
Finally, the decision Nair – went against 11 gamblers. They were fined 500 pounds and asked to pay the test expenses. Nevertheless, when O’Dwyer offered to waive the punishment in exchange for forgiveness, Nair refused.
He will pay the price instead of withdrawing the truth. “If there was another test, then who was to know if 12 other English shopkeepers would not reach the same conclusion?” He said.
Although he lost the matter, Nair became morally victorious. His disregard paid international attention to British atrocities in India and Jethy Nationalist returned home. Their disadvantage, in many ways, was the advantage of India.
Nair died in 1934, leaving behind a legacy, which became at least. His descendants continued to serve the nation: his grandson Kunhiraman Palat Candeth played an important role in the liberation of Goa in 1961, and other family members served special positions in Indian public life.
Still from Kesari Chapter 2
More than just one jurist or a politician, Sir Chettur Shankaran Nair was a person who refused to do injustice. In an era when many people chose the safety of silence, he with his voice – and his pen – courage.
with Kesari chapter 2His story will finally get cinematic tribute, which he deserves. In the era of manufactured heroes, here is a real. And his story, now more than ever, demands to listen.
