At a time when most films disappear from theatres within a week, Kesari Chapter 2 has been enjoying a steady run for almost three weeks. When we get on a call with Ananya Panday, she attributes it to the powerful story that is at the centre of Karan Singh Tyagi’s directorial venture. “I had studied about the Jallianwala Bagh [massacre] in school, as did everyone. But I didn’t know the extent of the details I learned while being a part of this film. I wanted to help tell this chapter of history,” she says of the period drama that offers a fictionalised version of C Sankaran Nair’s legal battle against the British Empire after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

In the Akshay Kumar and R Madhavan-starrer, Panday plays Dilreet Gill, a young lawyer who becomes the protagonist’s aide. Dilreet and she may be a century apart, but the actor says they have a trait in common — steely resolve. “I could connect with Dilreet’s strong resolve. I have a lot of fire in me, but it may not be evident. Dilreet was the same. She had a quiet resolve. She was emotionally charged, but she didn’t shout to prove her point,” she assesses.