'Kesari 2' accused of copying poem on Jallianwala Bagh

Kesari Chapter 2

, starring Akshay Kumar, R Madhavan, and Ananya Panday, has found itself at the centre of a plagiarism row after a YouTuber and poet

Yahya Bootwala

accused them of lifting from his poem

Jallianwala Bagh

without credit.
Bootwala took to his handles to share what he described as “clear copy-paste” evidence that the film lifted his moving poem. In a video posted online, he added a clip of himself reciting his original poem—published five years ago on the UnErase Poetry YouTube channel. He also added a clip of the scene from Kesari Chapter 2, in which Ananya Panday delivers strikingly similar lines.

In a strongly worded statement, he criticised the film’s dialogue writer, Sumit Saxena, for allegedly plagiarising his work. "So @nisoooooooooorg sent me a clip 4 days back from the movie Kesari 2 of dialogues he felt were copied from my poem, titled Jallianwala Bagh, published 5 years ago on @unerasepoetry YouTube channel," he began and went on to add, "Here are the two clips and honestly, this is a clear copy-paste and it’s not like they’ve tried to hide it as well, matlab phusphusana jaisa shabd bhi uthaya hai."

"Yes, logo ke khayal mil sakte hai, people can think in a similar way but kisi ek topic par bilkul ek jaisi lines likh dena is anything but a coincidence..”
Bootwala called on fans and followers to amplify his voice, urging them to tag key names associated with the film, including Karan Johar, director Karan Singh Tyagi, and actors Akshay Kumar and Ananya Panday. “If you’ve ever connected with my work, help this reach them,” he wrote.
He also addressed Saxena directly, writing, “As a writer, the worst thing you can do is steal someone else’s words without giving credit.”
He went on to add, "next time you can directly get in touch with me, main likh dunga original dialogues aapke liye."
The post has since gone viral on social media, raking in over 12K likes.
Fans of the poet took to the comments section to say, "Pehle hollywood se krte the, ab creators se."
"Oh I loved this line in the movie, ab pata chala it was plagiarised," said another.
"It’s one thing to be inspired by an idea but to copy word for word is outright plagiarism," another said.
Meanwhile, at the box office, Kesari 2 has earned an estimated Rs 50.25 crore at the ticket windows, within 8 days of its release.