| Killing Veerappan | |
|---|---|
 Poster | |
| Directed by | Ram Gopal Varma |
| Written by | Ram Gopal Varma K Balaji |
| Screenplay by | Ram Gopal Varma K. Balaji |
| Story by | Ram Gopal Varma |
| Based on | Operation Cocoon |
| Produced by | B. V. Manjunath B. S. Sudhindra E. Shivaprakash |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Rammy |
| Edited by | Anwar Ali |
| Music by | Score: Ravi Shankar Songs: Ravi Shankar Rajashekar Munna Kasi Sathya Kashyap Sandy |
Production company | ZED3 Pictures |
| Distributed by | G. R. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 151 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Kannada |
| Box office | est.₹20 crore (US$2.3 million)[1] |
Killing Veerappan is a 2016 IndianKannada-languagebiographicalcrime film directed byRam Gopal Varma, who co-wrote the film with K. Balaji.[2] The film is based on the events leading toOperation Cocoon to capture or kill IndianbanditVeerappan.[3] FeaturingShiva Rajkumar in the central role touted to be based onN. K. Senthamarai Kannan, the thenSuperintendent of police, with theIndian Special Task Force, and the spy who masterminded Operation Cocoon.[4]
The Kannada version was released in over 200 screens in the state ofKarnataka on January 1, 2016.[5][6][7][8] Upon its wide release, critics praised the performances, background score, cinematography, screenplay, casting, and direction while becoming a box office success,[9][10] and subsequently got screened in Kannada cinema section at the9th Bengaluru International Film Festival 2017.[11]
The Telugu dubbed version was released on 7 January 2016 to positive reviews[12][13] and had a decent run at the overseas box-office.[14] The Kannada version has garnered three nominations at the2nd IIFA Utsavam including Best Picture in Kannada, whileParul Yadav andYagna Shetty have each received the Performance In A Leading Role and Supporting Role - Female respectively.[15] The film has also garnered five nominations; including Parul Yadav winning Critics Choice Award for Best Actress at the6th SIIMA Awards,[16][17] and one nomination for Best Actress at the64th Filmfare Awards South.[18] The film was remade into Hindi asVeerappan (2016) with Bharadwaj reprising his role.[19][20]
Forest brigandVeerappan (Sandeep Bhardwaj), dominant inSathyamangalam Forest in the states ofTamil Nadu,Karnataka andKerala, defies the governments, andIndian Border security paramilitary forces, and maintains a small army of his own. He is wanted for killing approximately 184 people, about half of whom were police officers, including senior police and forest officials. He was also wanted forpoaching about 200 elephants andsmugglingivory worth US$2,600,000 and about 10,000 tonnes ofsandalwood worth approximately US$22,000,000.
In 1991, Veerappan and his chief Intel, Gandhi (Sadh Orhan), behead IFS OfficerP. Srinivas (Gadda Viji). Years later, Veerappan avenges the death of his close associate Gandhi by misleadingSpecial Task Force (STF) personnel in their covert operation, through Gandhi's unnamed notorious informer (Aziz Naser). The covert mission led by T. Harikrishna S.P. (Rockline Venkatesh), and his informer S.I. Shakeel Ahmed (Rajesh Nataranga) to kill Veerappan fails miserably. Veerappan, and his army brutally assassinate all the STF officers in the operation, and snatch their arms.
TheTamil Nadu STF chiefK. Vijay Kumar I.P.S. (K. S. Sridhar) appoints his associate, an undercover I.P.S. spy in theKarnataka region, a master-strategist (Shiva Rajkumar), who puts in place theOperation Cocoon through a network of tribals, and informers, such as Deputy spy (Sanchari Vijay), a woman STF spy and landlord, Shriya (Parul Yadav), who befriends and rents out a house to Muthulakshmi-the wife of Veerappan (Yagna Shetty). On the other hand, a team of loyal undercover cops led by Rambo Krishna (K Gopalakrishnan), leavePalar base of STF, near M. M. Hills, 100 kilometres (62 mi) fromKollegal of Karnataka along with a team of 41 members which includes police from two states, forest officials, forest watchers and informers. The team travels in two vehicles, of which one is a bus carrying most of the team members, and a jeep carrying K.Goplakrishnan, the IPS officer. Veerappan gang plants landmines on the road in more than 14 places to halt their approach, and during thePalar blast, K.Gopalakrishnan, standing on the foot board of the jeep is thrown out, and suffers severe injuries, leaving the police to retaliate and ultimately prevent the snatching of arms.
After few failed attempts, including the one led by another undercover cop (Gundragovi Satya), disguised as a subordinate to Muslim underworld Don-Kadaani (Ramesh Pandit), to negotiate an arms deal with Veerappan's gang, the STF team led by master-strategist, and an ex-spy turned timberyard owner-Kumar (Srikanth Iyyengar), finally succeed on 18 October 2004. On that day, Veerappan is escorted out of the forest by Kumar who earlier infiltrates Veerappan's gang in disguise to negotiate another arms deal withVelupillai Prabhakaran. Subsequently, Veerappan and his men board anambulance stationed atPapparapatti village inDharmapuri district, Veerappan and his men are first warned and then asked to surrender, which they refuse, and the men start firing at the STF personnel. The STF retaliate by firing grenades and gun fire, subsequently Veerappan and his men arekilled on the spot.
Killing Veerappan is Ram Gopal Varma's seconddocudrama since the release ofThe Attacks of 26/11. Killing Veerappan is produced by B. V. Manjunath, B. S. Sudhindra, E. Shivaprakash, and Ram Gopal Varma under the production house of ZED3 Pictures & G.R. Pictures. The film's music was composed by Ravi Shankar, Rajasekhar and the Background score was done by Sandy. The dialogues were written by Balaji K and the cinematography was helmed by Rammy.[22]
| Killing Veerappan | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Ravi Shankar, Rajashekar,Munna Kasi, Sathya Kashyap, Sandy | |
| Recorded | 2015 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Length | 30:50 |
| Language | Kannada |
| Label | Lahari Music |
Ravishankar scored the film's background music and co-composed for the soundtrack along with Rajasekhar, Munna Kasi, Sathya Kashyap and Sandy. Lyrics for the soundtrack was penned by Chethan Kumar and Srujan. The soundtrack album consists of nine tracks including threeinstrumentals.[23] It was released on 3 November 2015 inBangalore.[24]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hayya Hayya (The Power of Shiva)" | Chethan Kumar | Ravishankar | Shiva Rajkumar | 4:49 |
| 2. | "Vadhayo Vadhayo" | Srujan | Rajashekar | Rajashekar | 1:33 |
| 3. | "Spot Spot" | Chethan Kumar | Munna Kasi | Puneeth Rajkumar | 3:09 |
| 4. | "Hayya Hayya (Women Power)" | Chethan Kumar | Ravishankar | Indu Nagaraj | 4:42 |
| 5. | "Rakthava Kudiyo" | Chethan Kumar | Ravishankar | Geetha Madhuri | 2:34 |
| 6. | "Elephant Scream" | Rajashekar | Instrumental | 1:34 | |
| 7. | "Kill Beat" | Ravishankar | Instrumental | 2:03 | |
| 8. | "Hayya Hayya (Veerappan Mix)" | Chethan Kumar | Sathya Kashyap | Shiva Rajkumar | 5:17 |
| 9. | "Love You Veera" | Sandy | Instrumental | 5:09 | |
| Total length: | 30:50 | ||||
Deccan Chronicle praisedShiva Rajkumar's performance, noting, "ForgetVeerappan, watch it forShivanna."[25][26]The New Indian Express wrote, "Shiva Rajkumar as a cop is scarier than Veerappan".[27]