“Ananya Panday Opens Up About Her Grandfather’s Partition Trauma While Prepping for Kesari Chapter 2”
As Kesari Chapter 2: The Untold Story of Jallianwala Bagh inches closer to release, the buzz around its powerful narrative continues to build — and actress Ananya Panday has just added a deeply personal layer to it. During the film’s trailer launch in Delhi on April 3, 2025, the young star revealed an emotional connection to the film’s historical backdrop: her grandfather was separated from his father during the India-Pakistan partition.
Ananya, who plays a fierce and compassionate lawyer named Dilreet Gill in the upcoming courtroom drama, said she had heard haunting tales about the partition and Jallianwala Bagh massacre from her great-grandmother during childhood. But the real depth of these tragedies hit her only while working on Kesari Chapter 2.
She added that while the story is rooted in history, it triggered her own family’s memories.
Her mother’s family, she mentioned, hailed from Punjab — a region that bore the brunt of the partition. “We often carry history within us without realizing it,” she said.
Ananya hopes Kesari Chapter 2 will not only spark awareness but stir a deeper reflection on the lesser-known truths buried in India’s struggle for independence. “The world deserves to know what happened at Jallianwala Bagh. We cannot heal what we haven’t fully remembered.”
In the film, Ananya appears in a never-seen-before avatar — suited up as a courtroom warrior, seeking justice for a massacre history nearly silenced. Her first look as Dilreet Gill in the motion poster had already stirred intrigue, with the tagline:
“Embraced by compassion, fueled by justice.”
Directed with grit and sensitivity, Kesari Chapter 2 also stars Akshay Kumar, R. Madhavan, and Simon Paisley Day, and is slated for release on April 18, 2025.
