Q. Amitabh Bachchan tweeted that “Killing Veerappan” trailer is astounding. Your comments?
A: Amitji always felt that I will be best at making raw and very real films..I think he liked the very unconventional imagery and also the intensity of the content.
Q. Why did you want to make a film on Veerappan?
A: As a subject matter it always fascinated me..More than 12 years back I was producing a film called “Let’s catch Veerappan” which dealt with a small segment of 3 amateurs trying to catch Veerappan for the reward money…It was to be directed by Shimit Amin, the director of “Chak De India” but just as we were about to start shooting, Veerappan was killed. So I shelved it, thinking there’s no point of making a film where they are still trying to catch him when he is already dead. I also toyed with an idea of making a biopic of Veerappan but then so much information on him is already in the public domain through books, documentaries etc. so I again gave up the idea.
Then roughly around a year back I happened to hear about Mr.Senthamarai Kannan, the cop who headed the intelligence operation of Killing Veerappan…Unlike his earlier predecessors who always tried to hunt Veerappan inside the forest Mr.Kannan’s radically unique idea was to lure him out of the forest.
When I heard the details of how exactly that happened my excitement knew no bounds and it was then that I thought this operation detail should be known to everybody in the country because the Veerappan chapter is the most significant one in the entire crime history of India.
Q.Tell us about Shivraj kumar’s character?
A: Shivraj is playing the main cop’s role who was instrumental in the planning,which led to Veerappan’s death…My reason I wanted to cast him was I needed a man of that age,look and performance and in addition the fact that he’s the son of Rajkumar who was himself kidnapped by Veerappan really boosted the whole casting coup aspect primarily because the real life villain is being killed by the reel life hero
Q.What was Shivraj kumar’s reaction when you approached him for the role?
A: He initially wondered why I would want to do a film on a story which everyone knows ..But when I narrated him the whole thing he was shocked that he dint know 80% of it..Also considering his star image and his fans I was little unsure about how he will react to such a radically different characterisation but he took to it like a fish to water and I must say that I am mighty impressed with his performance…I also loved the way he captured the character even in his voice in the “Hayya Hayya” song
Q.Where did you find Sandeep Bharadwaj that actor who looks so strikingly similar to Veerappan ?
A: Contrary to people believing that I found a look alike actor,Sandeep in real life has no resemblance to Veerappan and it’s to the credit of Make up artiste Vikram Gaekwad that he transformed Sandeep into Veerappan..Credit also goes to Sandeep who apart from being an excellent actor also did a lot of physical and mental preparation for the role..Lot of people who saw the film said that the original Veerappan will be forgotten after this movie releases
Q.What is Parul Yadav playing?
A: Her character in “Killing Veerappan” is based on a real life character who was randomly picked up by the cops for taking part in the operation of killing Veerappan..The police dont usually do this kind of thing like recruiting a civilian outsider but sometimes do it only in certain special operations when they need someone who nobody will suspect …I can’t tell the name of the real woman for security purposes..Parul has done a real good job of an amateur trying to do police work
Q.What is Yajna Shetty’s role?
A: She is playing Mutthulakshmi Veerappan’s wife’s role ..Mutthulakshmi has given me considerable information on both the police operations and her relationship with Veerappan both on her personal and his criminal aspects…Yajna kind of has a physical resemblance to Mutthulakshmi which worked very well…Also I think this will be the first ever film where the villain has a love story and the hero doesn’t have
Q.What were the problems you had to go through at the censor board with regard to your film “Killing Veerappan”?
A: The only issue was that the censor board wanted me to remove the sound of a baby crying in an episode of Veerappan killing his own daughter ..So we had to mute it..Other than that except for a few insignificant minor cuts the overall film has been left completely intact
Q.Since it is a known fact that Muthulakshmi had created problems with a couple of previous films that were related to her late husband Veerappan. Was it the same case with Killing Veerappan.?
A: I don’t know her issue with the other films but with our film it was to do with her concern of me misrepresenting her husband who she thinks was a saviour of forests and wild animals against the corrupt forest and Government officials ..She also feels that Veerappan shown negatively can lead to fights between Kannadigas and Tamils ..she also claimed in her notice that me, Shivraj kumar and the censor board are hand in glove…However we amicably did an out of court settlement with her
Q.How real is “Killing Veerappan”
A.Any true life story which happened such a long time back is bound to have multiple versions/perspectives from multiple sources
But after extensive research and in depth talking to various officers associated with Veerappan operations from both Karnataka and Tamilnadu, Veerappan’s ex gang members and relatives and also from information gathered from some undisclosable sources, I would say what I showed in “Killing Veerappan”film is the truth as in what I know and what I absolutley believe to be the truth
But for the sake of protecting the identity of my sources I changed locations,time lines ,names of characters and their geographic placements ..I did not get into the specifics of which officer is from which police and also where its happening because my film is about specific individuals and not about the technical details
Q.What do you think the reaction of the audience will be to “Killing Veerappan”?
A.I think there will be three kinds of audience for this film.
1.People who really are not that aware of Veerappan.
2.People who are aware but not in detail.
3.People who are substantially aware.
For the first group it will be a never before seen kind of drama because a guy like Veerappan never existed in the crime history of Asia, and more than Veerappan, I never came across a cop who is like what Shivraj is playing.
For the second group i think it will thrill them to see the in between detail of the main incidents they know about.
For the third group there could be a clash in what they so far believed to be true ..But even they won’t be able to deny the fact that my film is the most comprehensive statement on what the actual story behind killing Veerappan was?
