Akshay Kumar, whose Kesari is based on the Battle of Saragarhi, says it is sad that the story has not been made into a film until now. The Battle of Saragarhi was fought between the British Indian army's Sikh Regiment and Afghan tribesmen on September 12, 1897.

Saragarhi was a tiny village in the then North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan). The British Indian contingent comprised 21 Jat Sikh soldiers of the 36th Sikhs who were stationed at an Army post and were attacked by 10,000 to 12,000 Afghans. Led by Havildar Ishar Singh, the Sikhs chose to fight to the death, in what is touted by some military historians as one of history's greatest battles ever fought.