‘Kesari 2’ plagiarism row amicably resolved after Yahya Bootwala’s allegations

The plagiarism controversy surrounding Kesari 2, which starred Akshay Kumar, R. Madhavan, and Ananya Panday, has been resolved after poet and YouTuber Yahya Bootwala accused the film's makers of using lyrics from his original poem on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre without his permission.

Bootwala had initially posted a video comparing his recitation of the poem to a scene from the film in which Ananya Panday appeared to deliver the same lines. He alleged that the dialogue, written by Sumit Saxena, closely mirrored his work from a poem titled Jallianwala Bagh, which was published on his YouTube channel five years ago.

In a social media post, Bootwala accused Saxena of stealing his lines, stating, "The worst thing you can do as a writer is steal someone else’s work without crediting them." He shared video clips to highlight the striking resemblance between the poem and the film's dialogue.

However, in a later update, Bootwala announced that the issue had been resolved amicably with the producers of Kesari 2. He expressed gratitude to his supporters, writing, “The producers and I have managed to amicably solve the issue in the best interest of both parties. Thank you for your support in these 2 days, you guys have been very kind.” The original post, which compared the two clips, was deleted following the resolution.

Previously, Bootwala clarified that Instagram had removed the video, not him.

Kesari 2, a historical courtroom drama directed by Karan Singh Tyagi and produced by Dharma Productions, tells the story of C. Sankaran Nair, a lawyer who opposed the British Raj after the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The film, which released on April 18, 2025, stars Ananya Panday as young lawyer Dilreet Gill, R. Madhavan as British barrister R. Neville McKinley, and Akshay Kumar as Nair.