veerappan
Cast: Shiva Rajkumar, Sandeep Bharadwaj, Yagna Shetty, Sadh Orhan, Parul Yadav
Rated: 5.5/10
A bullet to the head, gun shots that kill three more and a police officer being hacked into four before being killed with an axe because he dared to kill four Veerappan men sets the mood for the latest movie from Ram Gopal Varma (RGV). It brings to fore that the last film that RGV made that was of some substance wasSarkar and its sequel. Then came a slew of movies that made most of us wonder if RGV had lost the art of making good Hindi films. One can’t forget films like Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag which was such a disaster and many felt that he should give up making films altogether; even the horror films that he made didn’t have the RGV touch that one saw in movies like Satya, Company and Shool.
So, one was not expecting anything out of the ordinary when he announced that he was making a film on the life of the most dreaded brigand Veerappan. Moreso, since the smuggler has been dead for around 12 years. But interestingly, the movie is as much about the man who was wanted by three southern States Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as it is about RGV finally having found his Midas touch somewhat.
What worked in RGV’s favour was the docu-drama that he had made Killing Veerappan. This laid the ground work for the Hindi version.
Those who don’t know much about the smuggler who avoided capture for more than 20 years, killed 187 people (most of them police officers and forest rangers) and killed 200 elephants for ivory, the movie makes for an interesting watch. But those who know much about the criminal who was known for his Kattabomman (a hero of the 1857 revolt) moustache would know that some of the scenes , the dateline and the situations don’t match. For example, the lead up to Veerappan’s encounter. Newspaper reports say that the 52-year-old smuggler was on his way to get an eye treatment which was effected due to diabetes, the movie says that he was on his way to meet Prabhakaran. But then, it is a movie and situations and dateline need to be exaggerated.
But what makes this movie on Veerappan engaging is the way RGV has dealt with his subject without trying to glorify the man who was just 10 when he killed an elephant. Though there are some instances where the wife says that the man she married is misunderstood and that the police framed him, a narration tells you that sometimes Veerappan killed just to be in the news.
Go and see this one not because it is absolutely based on facts but because, the movie proves that RGV has plenty of brilliance left in him and for Sandeep Bharadwaj who has brought Veerappan to life even if it is on reel.