Kesari

Based on the 1897 Battle of Saragarhi, Kesari follows Havildar Ishar Singh, a Sikh soldier in the British Indian Army stationed at a remote outpost on the North-West Frontier. When a vastly larger force of Pashtun fighters closes in, Ishar Singh and twenty other Sikh soldiers hold the post against overwhelming odds, buying time while the garrison's signal link is their only means of communication. The story also follows his strained relationship with his daughter, whom he hopes to win back through his service.

Anurag Singh directed and co-wrote the film with Girish Kohli; it was produced by Akshay Kumar, Karan Johar and Apoorva Mehta. It stands between Singh's Jatt & Juliet and the later Border 2 in his directing credits. Akshay Kumar plays Ishar Singh, with Parineeti Chopra as Jeevani Kaur and Mir Sarwar, Ashwath Bhatt, Rakesh Chaturvedi and Suvinder Vicky in supporting roles. The film runs 151 minutes.

Released in March 2019, Kesari drew a broad audience response: on IMDb it holds 7.4/10 from roughly 26,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1/10 from about 127 votes, while a much smaller pool of 16 critics' reviews averages 5.2/10. The gap suggests viewers responded to the film more warmly than the professional press did.