Kesari (transl. Saffron) is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language historical war film starring Akshay Kumar and directed by Anurag Singh. It follows the events leading to the Battle of Saragarhi, a battle between 21 Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikhs Regiment of the British Indian Army and 10,000 - 12,000 Afridi and Orakzai Pashtun tribesmen in 1897.
Originally conceived as a joint production between Salman Khan and Karan Johar, Kesari was officially announced in October 2017 with Akshay Kumar cast as Havildar Ishar Singh, the real-life hero of the Battle of Saragarhi. While Khan later exited the project, Kumar and Johar remained attached in their respective roles. Parineeti Chopra was eventually cast as the wife of Kumar’s character. Principal photography for the film began in January 2018 and concluded in December. The soundtrack was composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Arko Pravo Mukherjee, Chirantan Bhatt, Jasbir Jassi, Gurmoh and Jasleen Royal with lyrics written by Kumaar, Manoj Muntashir, Kunwar Juneja and Bagchi. Produced on a budget of ₹80 crore (equivalent to ₹108 crore or US$11 million in 2026), the film was distributed internationally by Zee Studios.
Kesari was released in India during the Holi festival, on 21 March 2019. The film was a blockbuster at box office, grossing over ₹207 crore worldwide. The film earned eight nominations at the 65th Filmfare Awards in 2020 including Best Actor for Kumar.
Contents
Plot
Havildar Ishar Singh is a soldier in the 36th Sikhs Regiment of the British Indian Army. His commander who is an arrogant British officer who deems all Indians to be cowards and is jealous of Ishar Singh because of his superior fighting skills. The regiment is posted at Gulistan Fort, on the border between British-held territory and the Afghan border. Once, while on a border patrol, the troops see a group of Pashtun Afghan tribesmen, led by Saidullah, on the verge of killing a married Afghan woman because she refuses to accept her husband, who has been chosen by her family without her consent. The British officer refuses to intervene and save the woman, saying she is an Afghan citizen and does not reside in British territory; since it is a family matter about tribal custom, the policy of the British Raj is not to interfere. In defiance of the orders of his officer, Ishar Singh fights off the tribesmen and rescues the woman by killing her husband.
The British officer writes a strong report informing his commanding officer, who sits at the nearby Lockhart fort, of Ishar Singh's disobedience and insubordination. Soon enough, the Afghans attack the British-controlled Gulistan fort, but are held at bay by Ishar Singh, who fights valiantly and kills many Afghans. Nevertheless, Ishar Singh is blamed by his superiors for his actions, which caused the breach of peace with the Afghans. He is given a punishment transfer to Saragarhi Fort, which sits between Gulistan and Lockhart forts, and enables communication between them. Ishar Singh duly travels to Saragarhi Fort, where he finds the troop in a mess. He enforces discipline by punishing all who stay without food for an entire week. The troops are furious at first, but later begin to respect Ishar Singh after learning that he too was living without food. Meanwhile, Saidullah allies the Afghan tribes and motivates them to mount an attack on British territories as a unified force. Ishar Singh and Lal Singh go to a nearby village in search of their informant, who hadn't reported to them for over three days.
The British Commanding Officer, Col. John Haughton from Lockhart Fort, sees the Afghan Forces marching towards Sargarhi and alerts Ishar. Ishar and his battalion see ten thousand tribesmen approaching and encircling the fort. Saidullah, with the entire Afghan army at his back, beheads the woman Ishar Singh had rescued earlier in front of the Saragarhi Fort. Despite the commanding officer's orders to fight, Ishar lies to them and says that the commanding officer has told them to abandon the fort and flee. Ishar wants them to decide on their own to stay and fight, not due to an order from a British officer. Ishar Singh and his men decide to fight till death. Khuda Daad, the cook, volunteers to fight, but Ishar Singh asks him to instead provide water to the injured soldiers (including the Afghans). The Afghans initiate the battle, and Bhagwan Singh is the first to be killed. Gurmukh Singh, a young, inexperienced soldier, is unable to fight; Ishar Singh asks him to keep the CO updated regarding the battle and decides to prolong the battle to prevent the Afghans from advancing to the Gulistan and Lockhart forts. As the battle prolongs, Lal Singh alone fights the Afghans outside the fort and dies while asking one of the sepoys to close the gate to the fort. The Afghans destroy the west wall of the fort using explosives.
Production
Development
In 2017, Salman Khan and Karan Johar announced that they would be producing a film together based on the Battle of Saragarhi starring Akshay Kumar in the lead role. Media reports later speculated Khan left the project in favor of a similarly themed film starring Ajay Devgn, and in October that year, Johar and Kumar announced a statement about their collaboration on the film; that Khan had quit the film, and that it would be titled Kesari. Parineeti Chopra was confirmed for a minor role as the wife of Kumar's character, whom he had left behind at the village after joining the army.
Filming
Principal photography began on 5 January 2018 and finished on 31 December 2018. The film was produced on a budget of ₹80 crore (equivalent to ₹108 crore or US$11 million in 2026).
Music
The music of the film is composed by Tanishk Bagchi, Arko Pravo Mukherjee, Chirantan Bhatt, Arijit Singh, Jasbir Jassi, Gurmoh and Jasleen Royal with lyrics written by Kumaar, Manoj Muntashir, Kunwar Juneja and Tanishk Bagchi.
Marketing and release
Kumar released Kesari's first look poster on 12 September 2018, through Twitter. Another poster was released on India's Republic Day, 26 January 2019. The film's theatrical poster was released on 11 February 2019.
The following day, Dharma Productions released three videos titled "Glimpses of Kesari" on their YouTube channel, detailing the film's production. A second theatrical release poster for Kesari was released on 20 February 2019.
The first song of the film "Sanu Kehndi" was released on 27 February 2019, while the second song, "Teri Mitti", was released on 15 March 2019 and the full album was released on 18 March 2019.
Kesari was released worldwide during the Indian Holi festival, on 21 March 2019. It had a release on 4200 screens worldwide, 3600 screens of which were in India and the rest overseas.
Home video
Kesari was made available as VOD on Amazon Prime Video in May 2019.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, 33% of 15 critics' reviews are positive, with an average of 5.1 out of 10 Rachit Gupta of The Times of India gave Kesari four stars out of five, praising its "technical brilliance, intricate writing and thundering performances". Writing for Times Now, Gaurang Chauhan rated the film three and a half stars out of five and opined, "Kesari is not the best patriotic film or action film to come out of Bollywood, but it surely is worth the time and money".
Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in writes, "Sluggishly paced until the interval and springing to life only in fits and starts in the second half, Kesari is a poor attempt to revisit a chapter in Indian military history that earned the admiration even of British colonizers." Additionally, the movie received negative criticism for its portrayal of the main antagonist as a stereotypical Muslim maulana, as well as for displaying rancor against a Sikh turban by Muslim Afghans.
Box office
Kesari opened with collection of ₹210.6 million on its first day. The collection of extended weekend of the film is ₹780.7 million, which was the highest opening weekend collection of 2019 for Bollywood films released till May. It's domestic gross was ₹182.30 crore and overseas gross ₹24.79 crore. It has grossed ₹207.09 crore worldwide to become an all-time-blockbuster. The film grossed over ₹100 crore worldwide in its opening weekend. It became the fastest ₹100 crore earning film in domestic net in 2019 for Bollywood films released till May. It eventually grossed over ₹200 crore (equivalent to ₹271 crore or US$28 million in 2026) worldwide in its fourth week.
Sequel
The second installment, Kesari Chapter 2, a historical legal drama, was released on 18 April 2025. In early April 2025, Akshay Kumar confirmed the third installment in series titled Kesari Chapter 3, which will be based on Sikh General Hari Singh Nalwa.