Welcome to Movie Shortens. Follow us today to the 2019 Indian war film called: Kesari. Before
we start, be aware: there are spoilers! As the movie begins, we are introduced
to /i-shar-sing/ Ishar Singh, a sergeant of the Sikh Regiment of the British Indian Army.
He is on a regular patrol near the border along with a group of Sikh soldiers. As Ishar Singh is
chatting with one of his subordinates, a British officer called Lawrence interrupts and orders
the group to go back to fort Galistan. When they are about to leave, they see a
group of Afghans tribe dragging a woman on the other side of the border. As the woman
is about to be executed, Ishar Singh decides to save her even though Lawrence tells him not to.
Ishar Singh fights the whole Afghan tribe on his own, rescuing the woman shortly. However, he is
captured by /mu-lah-sa-duh-lah/ Mullah Saeedullah, the tribe’s chief. Ishar Singh tries to resist
when Mullah is about to take off his turban. Just then, his subordinates rush to save him.
Eventually, they get back to Galistan Fort. Lawrence reports Ishar Singh’s disobedience
and suggests to punish him severely to set an example to the others. The report is sent to their
Commander in Lockhart for the final decision. In the meantime, Ishar is speaking with one of
his subordinates. It is revealed that Ishar’s rank is higher than the common Sikh Soldiers
because his English is better. All of a sudden, a group of Afghans
tribesmen approaches from afar and fires at them. Luckily, the soldier only gets
shot at the arm and is carried to the nursing room. Later on, upon being abruptly attacked,
the Sikh force in Galistan fight back and shoot the tribesmen from above. Ishar jumps
out of the wall and sees a group of tribesmen are trying to dig a hole to bomb the Fort. He
finishes them off before they can do so. A tribesman sniper, who hides on a tree nearby,
is killing the guards on the defensive wall. Ishar rushes outside of the fort
and finds him. On the way, he ambushes and manages to kill another group of tribesmen
approaching by throwing dynamite at them. In a while, Ishar traces the sniper and manages to get
rid of him but ends up falling into a trap. Now, we are introduced to Commanding Officer John
Haughton, who leads a group of armed Sikh soldiers from Lockhart and chases the Afghan tribesmen off.
Ishar is summoned to talk to Haughton, who blames him for waging the war between the Afghan
tribesmen and the British Indian Army. However, Ishar asserts that it’s the British that rage the
war first. Haughton is angry and tells Ishar not to comment about politics. He decides to
transfer Ishar to Saragarhi Fort, a heliographic communication post with fewer troops. Ishar will
take charge and carry out the communication job between Galistan and Lockhart fort. Ishar has
no other choice but reluctantly obeys. After getting out of Haughton’s office,
Ishar is called to talk to Lawrence, who expresses his disdain for him
and India in general. Ishar could not do anything but hide his anger and walk away.
In a while, Ishar goes back to the nursing room to say goodbye to his subordinate before heading
to Saragarhi fort. During their conversation, it is revealed that Ishar already got married
and his wife is the only reason for him to keep moving forward.
On the way heading to Saragarhi, he meets the Afghan woman he saved the other day.
Despite the language barrier, they both greet each other as she gives him something to eat.
Ishar keeps a small handkerchief that his wife gave him and recalls the time with her.
Finally Ishar shows up in Saragarhi, where the troop is a mess. As there are only 20 of them
and they don’t have much to work on. What they do everyday
is enjoy chicken fights. Ishar immediately enforces discipline on the soldiers. He goes
outside of the fort to grow a garden around as a way to remember his life back home.
When he gets inside the fort, the soldier has already cooked the chicken. Ishar gets furious and
decides to punish them all to live without food for a week. Ishar’s presence at Saragarhi Fort
frustrates the soldiers here. On the other side of the border,
the leaders of the tribesmen, /khan-ma-sud/ Khan Masood,
/gul-ba-shal/ Gul Bashal and /mu-lah-sa-dul-lah/ Mullah Saeedullah, are mounting an attack towards
the British army. They blame the British Indian Army for stopping them from punishing a woman
who insulted Allah's name. To protect their traditions and faith, they decide to unify
and declare a Holy war toward the British Army. Meanwhile in the fort, Ishar feels pity for his
comrade and decides to lift the punishment. Ishar was living without food as well.
The soldiers later confront Ishar and pay respect to him. That evening,
they have dinner and dance happily together. Back to the Afghan tribes, they plan to attack
Saragarhi fort in the morning. They will take over Galistan and Lockhart in the afternoon.
Without Saragarhi, the British Army will not be able to communicate with each other.
In the meantime, Ishar is informed about a Saragarhi’s informant, who went missing for three
days. Tshar comes to the village nearby in search of their informant and learns that he has left the
village last night as he is under threat. Here, he also learns that the men in the village have
gone out preparing for a war. Only the old people stay to build a mosque for winter to come.
Soon after, Ishar goes back to the fort and asks his comrades to help the villagers.
The next day, all Sikh soldiers in the Saragarhi come to the Muslim village to build the mosque. At
the end of the day, the villagers express their gratitude to the soldiers for helping them.
The next day, in Lockhart fort, as Haughton sees a large group of Afghan tribesmen are
marching towards Saragarhi, he sends a message to Ishar saying he is sending troops for help.
Ishar gathers his men to the top of the wall and sees a large group of some
10,000 tribesmen encircling the fort. Mullah, on the other hand,
drags the woman that Ishar saved earlier to the frontline and kills her.
When Ishar receives a message from Haughton, he promptly holds a meeting with his comrades.
He informs that both Galistan and Lockhart can not help them as all
the routes are blocked by the tribesmen. They are ordered to abandon the fort and escape.
As it is too risky to have his 20 soldiers to fight against 10,000 tribesmen, Ishar gives his
men the opportunity to think twice. However, the soldiers still commit to fight this war
anyway. Knowing that his fellows won’t change their decision, Ishar has to lead his men and
heads out to fight against 10,000 tribesmen. In a while, Ishar initiates the war by aiming his
gun toward the enemy and shooting one of them dead. Later, he deploys his force in position.
Gurmukh Singh, the soldier in charge of the communication,
questions why Ishar didn’t follow Haughton’s order and decided to let them fight. Ishar explains
that this war is for their own freedom. The Sikh soldiers will not fight as a white man tells them
to do so. He states that today the 21 men will fight like free men and die like free men. Ishar
also asks /khu-da-dad/ Khuda Daad, the cook, to provide water to the injured soldiers, including
the Afghans. He claims that“Fighting only kills the enemy, Kindness destroys enmity itself”.
Moments later, the tribesmen charge at Saragarhi as the 21 brave soldiers aim to shoot. Ishar
orders Gurmukh Singh to keep Haughton updated. In the meantime, the Afghans stop attacking and
wave white flags. Ishar orders his men to prolong the battle after learning that the
British Army is sending help and will arrive the next day. Once they keep the battle longer,
they will prevent the Afghans from advancing to Galistan and Lockhart fort in the evening. Ishar
goes outside of the fort to meet with the leaders of the tribes including Khan Masood, Gul Badshal
and Mullah Saedullah. As Ishar orders his cook to let the injured Afghans drink, Mullah immediately
stops it and refuses Ishar’s kind act. Khan Masood states that they will take over Saragarhi by noon
and will continue to defeat Galistan and Lockhart in the evening. In the meantime, two tribesmen
approach the fort and dig a hole to bomb it. Before the tribe leaders return, Ishar sends two
Afghans along with them. Without suspicion, the leaders get back to their front line. However, it
turns out that the two tribesmen are wrapped with bombs and get killed shortly after released.
As the battle continues, the Afghans keep charging at the fort while the Sikh soldiers fight back
valiantly. They manage to get to the wooden gate and start to demolish it. A sniper is assigned to
hide behind rock to kill the soldiers defending on the top of the fort. Ishar rushes to see his
comrade and manages to finish the sniper off. Back at the fort gate, the Afghans shoot at it and
kill one of the comrades. The Sikh soldiers open the gate and charge at the Afghans.
After a while fighting, most of the Sikhs are wounded and try to get inside the fort. However,
they are outnumbered and killed shortly after. 7 out of 21 soldiers have died in the battle.
In the meantime, the troops in Saragarhi Fort run out of bullets and ask for help from Galistan.
However, it is impossible in this situation. Now, the Afghans have reached the wall and made
a pile of dead bodies to climb on the fort. Even though the Sikhs have to use the very last bullets
they have, they still fight valiantly. When some of the Afghans climb to the fort, Ishar combats
them and manages to fight back. He also looks around and sees most of his men are dead.
Later on, the Afghans are trying to blow up a part of the wall in the west side,
making it shattered. Till 4PM, the wall has fallen but Ishar and three of his men
are yet to surrender. Ishar gives his last order to the remaining comrades. He tells Gurmukh to
keep sending messages for Galistan and tells his cook to provide water to the injured soldiers.
As the enemy charges into the fort, Ishar takes off his stripes and grabs a red-hot sword to
combat. Even though he is a skilled fighter, he is defeated as being outnumbered by lots of enemies.
While fighting, he is hesitant to kill a young boy among the Afghans. A random tribesman shoots
him in the arm right after that. Seeing Ishar is fatally wounded,
one of the remaining Sikh soldiers starts to shoot the Afghans from the top but later also
gets killed brutally.Ishar is stabbed by the young soldier that he was hesitant to kill.
In the end of the battle, we can see Ishar’s comrades are almost defeated. The cook also
gets killed while providing water for the wounded Afghans. Seeing Ishar is on the verge of death,
Mullah approaches and tries to take off his turban. However, Ishar resists and manages to
stab him. Masood approaches and is impressed by Ishar’s bravery. He orders his men not to
touch any Sikh’s turban. Now as Ishar is dying, he sees the vision of his wife calling for him.
Later on, the Afghan’s leaders know that their plan went wrong because it
is impossible to reach Galistan and Lockhart now. They see Gurmukh on the defensive wall
and decide to kill him. His scream can be heard painfully. Gurmukh writes his name on the wall
and rushes to the tower. While he is trying to shoot at the enemy and defend himself, the Afghans
corner him and start to set the tower on fire. However, to the Afghan’s surprise, instead of
hearing a painful scream, they see Gurmukh walking out with his body on fire. When he
starts to chant the slogan of the Sikh, Gul Badsha points the gun at him. But little did he know,
Gurmukh soon grabs him and triggers the grenade, resulting in a huge explosion.
After hearing the chant from Saragarhi, all the Sikh soldiers in Galistan
and Lockhart start to chant the slogan as a way to grieve for their comrades’ death.
Later on, the surviving Afghans loot the fort and eventually set it on fire. All
the 21 soldiers involved in the battle were awarded the Indian Order of Merit,
the highest gallantry award an Indian soldier could receive at the time.
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