Karan Johar to make film on Sir C Sankaran Nair

Express News Service

PALAKKAD: Even as Malayalis have been keenly awaiting the release of Marakkar — Arabikadalinte Simham which tells the story of Kunhali Marakkar IV, the naval commander of the Samoothiri known for defending the Malabar coast against the Portuguese invasion, another historical film inspired by real events is on the anvil. The movie on Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair, former Indian National Congress president, is being made in both English and Hindi by none other than Karan Johar of Dharma Productions and Still and Still Media Collective.

“My wife Pushpa Palat and I coauthored the book, The Case that Shook the Empire, which brings alive a tumultuous era in Indian history. It is about the defamation case that Sir Sankaran Nair, former member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, fought against Sir Michael O’Dwyer, former Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab. The case was argued by by Sankaran Nair who was also a lawyer at the Court of the King’s Bench in England for six weeks — the longest in the history till then and exposed the horrors of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and the atrocities committed in Punjab by the British,” said Raghu Palat, greatgrandson of Sankaran Nair.

“We met Karan Johar sometime last year. He said he was very much moved by the arguments of Chettur Sankaran Nair in the highest court in the empire at a time when it was unusual for Indians to stand up against the British,” he said.

Film on Sankaran Nair to hit floors soon

“We then gave the rights to make a film based on the book. Two days ago, Karan Johar rang me up and said they were proceeding with the film. It will be directed by Karan Singh Tyagi. The cast is yet to be announced and it is expected to go on the floors soon,” he said. Raghu Palat said when his great-grandfather came to know of the massacre (there was press censorship then), he resigned from the Executive Council. He went to England and, with his efforts, got a commission appointed to investigate what had happened at Jallianwala Bagh. When they submitted their report, the government was horrified. Winston Churchill condemned the act, as did parliament.

O’Dwyer was removed as the Lt-Governor. When Sankaran Nair returned to India, he wrote a book, ‘Gandhi and Anarchy’, mentioning the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre. This was challenged by O’Dwyer as he was trying desperately to clear his name. Consequently, O’Dwyer filed a defamation case against Sankaran Nair in the Court of the King’s Bench in England in 1922.

“We were able to source the original newspaper reports of the trial, books written by the main protagonists and other books written at that time. This was the main reason for the Independence struggle to gain momentum,” said Raghu Palat, who is a leading writer on banking, finance and investments Sankaran Nair was born in Chettur ‘tharavadu’ in Mankara. He played an active part in India’s National Movement and when the Indian National Congress assembled at Amaravathi in 1897, he was chosen its president, said Rajashekharan Nair, retired professor of history at VTB College in Sreekrishnapuram.