Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh

The film opens with a stark depiction of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, where Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer orders his soldiers to fire upon a peaceful gathering of civilians in Amritsar. Hundreds are slaughtered, and one of the few survivors is a teenage boy, Pargat Singh, who loses his mother and sister during the carnage. The British suppress all truthful reporting, destroying issues of Punjab Samachar that documented the real events, and falsely claim that the victims were violent rebels who attacked the army—despite no soldiers being harmed. The narrative then turns to C. Sankaran Nair, a distinguished barrister and member of the Viceroy's Council, was recently knighted by the British Crown. Nair meets Pargat after the massacre and urges him to abandon violent rebellion and return to school. Later, he hears that Pargat has “committed suicide.” Nair is assigned by the colonial government to investigate the massacre, with the expectation of delivering a report favouring the British. However, law student Dilreet Gill secretly retrieves a surviving issue of the Punjab Samachar and shows it to Nair, exposing the truth of Dyer's brutality.

Realizing the enormity of the crime, Nair condemns Dyer before the Viceroy's Council, but his objections are ignored, and he is warned not to challenge the Crown. Feeling complicit in Pargat's fate for discouraging him, Nair—guided by Gill—decides to sue the British government and General Dyer for genocide. In the first legal confrontation, he wins, causing Dyer to consider killing him, but others advise against attacking a man of Nair's rank. Dyer then hires Neville McKinley, a resentful Anglo-Indian lawyer, to represent the Crown in the Trial Court. An intense courtroom battle follows. The prosecution introduces Martha Stevens, a music teacher who alleges that she was raped. Public sentiment turns against Nair for defending the accused man. However, Nair and Gill uncover evidence proving that Stevens was never raped; instead, she was coerced into lying because she had a consensual romantic relationship with the man. In court, Gill cleverly manipulates her into admitting her feelings, revealing the truth. This restores Nair's credibility and leads him to another victory, during which he nearly provokes Dyer into confessing his guilt.

But McKinley counters with a strategic blow—he accuses Nair of illegally accessing confidential government files while collecting evidence. Nair is convicted and sentenced to seclusion, preventing him from influencing the final judgment. The government is acquitted. Broken and disheartened, Nair returns home only to receive a letter from imprisoned rebel Kripal Singh, father of Pargat, revealing that the British officials murdered Pargat and did not commit suicide. Enraged, Nair drags Gill back into the fight. When the court rejects his challenge, he deliberately violates contempt of court to escalate the matter to higher authorities. Dyer and McKinley expect his public humiliation, but Nair exposes that the jury's verdict was not unanimous. He brings forward the only honest juror—the other two having been bribed—who testifies in his favor. Although Nair is ultimately debarred from practice, his revelations reach the media and ignite a wave of patriotic resistance, ensuring that the truth of the massacre can no longer be buried.