Mumbai/IBNS: Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Ananya Panday, producer Karan Johar thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi remembering lawyer and statesman C Sankaran Nair, who fought against the British to uncover the truth about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, in the cusp of the release of Kesari 2 which is based on him.

In a recent address, Modi highlighted Nair's fight against the British Raj after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre where unarmed civilians were fired on by British troops in Punjab's Amritsar in 1919.

Modi had said, "Sankaran Nair-ji was serving a top post in the British government at that time. He could have had all the happiness and luxury being in the government but he started fighting against the cruelty of the British regime upon being pained by the Jallianwala Bagh incident. He was removed from the post."

"Though the incident had happened in Punjab while he was from Kerala, Nair-ji decided to fight the Jallianwala Bagh case by himself. He fought by himself and shook the foundation of the British empire and brought it to the court of law."

Thanking the Prime Minister for remembering Nair, Akshay wrote on X, "Thank you Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji for remembering the great Chettur Sankaran Nair ji and his contribution to our freedom struggle.

"It is so important that we as a nation, especially the younger generation values the great women and men who fought valiantly to ensure that we breathe in a free country! Our Kesari Chapter 2, is a humble effort to remind everyone that we must never take our freedom for granted!"

Karan Johar wrote on Instagram, "Thank you to our honourable PM Modi ji for shedding light on some of our unsung heroes of our Indian freedom, specifically C. Sankaran Nair whose story remains unheard, untold & uuread by so many of our citizens. We are looking forward for Indians to discover another chapter of the freedom of India through the lens of our film Kesari- Chapter 2 soon."

Ananya wrote, "Thank you Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji for remembering the great Chettur Sankaran Nair ji and his contribution to our freedom struggle. It is so important that we as a nation, especially the younger generation, value the great women and men who fought valiantly to ensure that we breathe in a free country! Our Kesari Chapter 2 is a humble effort to remind everyone that we must never take our freedom for granted."

Directed by Karan Singh Tyagi, Kesari 2 features Akshay as advocate C. Sankaran Nair, R. Madhavan as advocate Neville McKinley and Ananya as Dilreet Gill.

The film will hit the theatres on April 18.