Movie review 'Killing Veerappan': RGV makes a killing out of Veerappan

Director: Ram Gopal Varma

Shiv Raj Kumar, son of the legendary Kannada actor Rajkumar (who had been kidnapped by Veerappan), plays the lead in the film, which also had debutant Sandeep Bharadwaj.

The story begins with a few police officials trying to nab Veerappan (Sandeep Bharadwaj) in the thick forests. But most of the cops are brutally killed by the smuggler; he doesn’t spare the informers too.

Special Task Force officer (Shiv Raj Kumar) then comes up with a plan to apprehend the forest brigand. As he fails in a couple of attempts to take him alive, he finally hatches a plan to kill Veerappan.

RGV’s films in the last few years have been quite silly; one might even call them B-grade. He was severely criticised and the industry had more or less written him off. In fact he himself had announced that he would shift base to Mumbai.

But with Killing Veerappan, he has proved that he still has it in him. He has utilised the interesting angle of how a police officer implements a plan to kill Veerappan on his own, without taking permission from his superiors. RGV is an expert in these types of realistic stories.

A great plus point of the film is that RGV has completely focused on the subject and never deviates from it. He doesn’t focus much on Veerappan, other than a few incidents highlighting his cruelty. Instead, the filmmaker concentrates only on the main plot, the unofficial plan of the cop to kill Veerappan. He also doesn’t touch upon Veerappan’s personal life except showing his wife a couple of times.

RGV has shot in some real locations and the cinematography is gripping. Some of the scenes are trademark RGV and only he can come up with such realistic shots. The climax is another highlight of the film.

Debutant Sandeep Bharadwaj as Veerappan is amazing. He could pass off as the sandalwood smugglers twin and nowhere does one feel that this is his first film.

Shiv Raj Kumar, who plays the cop, has portrayed his emotions very well throughout the film. One must also mention Parul Yadav, who plays Shreya, a police informant. Her performance is as good as the two male leads. These three carry the film on their shoulders while Yagna Shetty, who plays Veerappan’s wife Muthu Lakshmi, has also done a stellar job.

However, there are a few drawbacks. The background score is not interesting, it is loud and sometimes irritating. And while the climax scene is excellent, the gunfire is too heavy and feels like Diwali rather than a shootout. All in all, Killing Veerappan is Ram Gopal Varma’s comeback film and he has once more shown how can come up with great films if he puts his mind to it.