Veerappan is a biographical film based on the life of the notorious bandit Veerappan.  The rise and fall of the  forest brigand Veerappan and the events leading to Operation Cocoon to capture and kill him is what this movie delineates.

The film, which is based on Varma’s Kannada docudrama “Killing Veerappan,” features Sandeep Bharadwaj in the titular role, Usha Jadhav as Veerappan’s wife Muthulakshmi and Sachiin Joshi as Police Officer (Spy).

The story speaks of the rise and fall of the world’s most notorious sandalwood and ivory smuggler, Veerappan. Koose Muniswamy Veerappan (Sandeep) born to the jungles in in Sathyamangalam forest in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, took to killing while still in his teens by working as an assistant to his relative who was involved in illegal activities. From his first murder at the age of seventeen to the mass murder of more than fifteen policemen by exploding a landmine, Veerappan was a force to reckon in the three states. Veerappan was wanted for killing approximately 184 people, including police officers. He was also wanted for poaching about 200 elephants and smuggling ivory worth US$2,600,000 and about 10,000 tonnes of sandalwood worth approximately US$22,000,000. One Special task force officer (Shiva Rajkumar) believes that he has some methods that can work in catching Veerappan. His initial methods only result in failures. Learning from failures, he starts playing mind games with Veerappan that lead to killing him. It is how Tamil Nadu STF chief K Vijay Kumar IPS kills him and his men through Operation Cocoon forms the crux of the story.

RGV has told it taut, especially in the second half that is all about Operation ‘Killing Veerappan’. If you are keen and curious, to see the life and times of one of the most dreaded criminals, who twirled his moustache and brandished his gun with equal finesse, Varma provides you that vicarious pleasure. Veerappan proves that the maverick director is still capable of narrating decent engaging stories and he still has not lost it totally. Sachiin J Joshi, Usha Jadhav, Lisa Ray and others have also done justice to their roles and their performances are also good assets of “Veerappan.” The film has rich production values and brilliant picturisation and background score are attractions on the technical front.

Like the trailer promised, the movie also is told in feverish way. Though it is not on par with his best movies, still Killing Veerappan is better one from him in the recent times. From start to finish, he has told it in engrossing manner. This 126-minute film has pace and a narrative technique which may give you a glimpse of RGV’s old charm.

VEERAPPAN has violence that may seem a bit over the top for a certain segment of audience. Sandeep’s tranformation as Veerappan is commendable — from his looks to his dialect.

Tags: Killing VeerappanMuniswamy VeerappanRam gopal vermaSandeep Bharadwajveerappan