Killing Veerappan Movie Review
Story:
Killing Veerappan is the story of intelligence operation which went on to eliminate the dreaded smuggler Veerappan. There were several theories and stories about how the forest brigand was killed on the night of October 18th, 2004. It is first of its kind film on Veerappan which reveals the complete picture of the successful operation after Ram Gopal Varma drew inputs from an officer who participated in the operation.
Performances:
Sandeep Bharadwaj’s casting as Veerappan itself is the first success of the film. He is so believable in the role. Yagna Shetty plays his wife Muthulakshmi and Parul Yadav plays the role of Shreya who is hired to befriend Muthulakshmi. However both the characters of Shreya and Muthulakshmi are not etched well.
Shivaraj Kumar plays the Superintendent of Police in Vijay Kumar’s team which carried out he final assault on Veerappan. Shivaraj Kumar is too good in the role and it is a treat to his fans. The connect to the personal story of his father, Rajkumar’s kidnap will work too.
Technical Performances:
Ram Gopal Varma made sure that the Operation Cocoon pans out like a battle between good and bad. In such an attempt, where the final outcome is already known, it is important to keep the audience interest about ‘how’ it happened. He made sure the narration is interesting with back and forth narration and including some brief flashback sequences.
The mission was masterminded by the Commander of the Tamil Nadu Special Task Force, K. Vijay Kumar but his character in the film is dominated by the character of SP Senthamarai Kannan (Shivaraj Kumar). May be thats a cinematic liberty!
Three Music directors – Ravi Shankar, Sandy, Satya Kashyap have worked on the back ground score of the film and it is simply brilliant. In fact, they have taken the film to the next level. Cinematography is the major asset with some RGV trademark shaky camera angles. Editing by Anwar Ali is good. Production Values are adequate.
Plus Points:
- Sandeep Bhardwaj as Veerappan
- Screenplay and narration by RGV
- Cinematography
- Back Ground Score
- Interval Bang and Climax
Minus Points:
Missing the usual commercial elements
Final Say:
Killing Veerappan is more of a docudrama (documentary with drama). Ram Gopal Varma is back with a gripping crime thriller which he managed to keep it interesting from start to end. Killing Veerappan will be a classic for people who like such films. Ram Gopal Varma proved it again that he is master in handling such intense subjects.
