Why Ram Gopal Varma is making a film on Veerappan

Reaching Ram Gopal Varma isn't easy. He is in a bad network area, shooting for Killing Veerappan deep inside the Karnataka forest. More than a decade after the sandalwood smuggler-cum-poacher-cum-bandit-cum-kidnapper was killed in a daring operation, RGV is shooting him again. With the typical Ramu touch, you bet.

Varma tweeted pictures of his Veerappan on June 25, 2015. The man who made the handlebar moustache famous would have been proud. For Sandeep Bharadwaj, who plays Veerappan in Varma's film, has a startling resemblance to the man who was terror in the Satyamangalam forest for years.

"Surprisingly it didn't take time at all," said Varma in an email interview, about how he found his Veerappan. "I guess we struck luck at first strike. I called a casting director Harshal Bandivadekar and briefed him on my requirement and Sandeep was the first one he put me on to. Having said that, the credit also goes to Vikram Gaekwad, the make-up genius and Sandeep, who apart from working on the physical changes since months, also started living in his head thinking he himself is Veerappan and that's what is emanating from his expressions which is adding to his external looks."

But more than Sandeep's casting as Veerappan, it is Shivrajkumar in the role of the cop who kills Veerappan which has been the surprise packet. Shivrajkumar's late father, Kannada film thespian Rajkumar, was kidnapped by Veerappan in June 2000 and held hostage for 108 days.

"Shivrajkumar's casting, I think is a wonderful coincidence but for me the main attraction was the intensity in his face,'' said Varma. The first look of the film exposed only Shivrajkumar's eyes. I asked Varma how the actor reacted to being offered the role.

"He initially was apprehensive asking why make a film on what everybody knows. But when he heard the story, he was stunned. In fact, his wife commented that inspite of being the insiders of a major segment of Veerappan's life, they didn't know 80 per cent of what I told them," said Varma.

But won't viewers ask the same question - Why a film on Veerappan now? "The only reason I am making this film is to tell a behind-the-scenes story of how Veerappan was killed and I assure you that no one knows this part of it. Also stories are not about the broad content but about detailing," said Varma.

The Veerappan story has been on Varma's mind for more than ten years, but the last two to three years have seen him concentrating on the killing of Veerappan. As part of his research, he met K Vijay Kumar, the IPS officer who led the operation that put a full stop to Veerappan's terror.

Given Varma's track record of successful films on the Mumbai underworld, Killing Veerappan will be keenly awaited. I asked Varma if he saw Veerappan as some kind of a Robinhood, with several shades of grey.

"I think for any man to do anything evil, he has to convince himself that he can do it. He will believe that his act is justified but it is the perspective of others which is important and they always vary. One man's Robinhood can be another man's dacoit," said Varma.

Varma's philosophical attitude also extends to the reaction his films have got of late, at the box office, with none of the films recreating the magic of a Satya or a Company or a Sarkaar.

"I only can do what I can do," he said.