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Release date:
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May 27, 2016
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Director:
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Ram Gopal Varma
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Cast:
Language:
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Sandeep
Bharadwaj, Sachiin J. Joshi, Usha Jadhav, Lisa Ray
Hindi
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Ram Gopal Varma’s new Hindi film Veerappan would have been better served
by the title Killing Veerappan that
he gave to his Kannada film on the late forest bandit that was released earlier
this year. The name might suggest otherwise but Veerappan is not a biopic of the notorious sandalwood and ivory
smuggler who eluded the police of two states for over two decades. It is,
instead, a documentary-style portrait of Veerappan as seen through the eyes of
the Special Task Force set up to capture him, while they work towards achieving
their goal.
One of the most notorious
criminals in recent Indian history, Veerappan’s life no doubt is rich fodder
for a filmmaker. And R.D. Tailang’s script has all the ingredients that could
make for a great film. That it is not is a result of three factors: the overly
loud background music that overpowers everything else in the film, the casting
of Sachiin Joshi as the policeman who led the operation to nab Veerappan and
Lisa Ray playing the wife of a slain policeman.
The decision to keep the score at
a screeching level is inexplicable since the story itself does not scream.
Besides, Sandeep Bharadwaj playing
Veerappan does a very convincing job and does not for a moment raise the
decibel levels of the film, although it might have been tempting to caricature
a criminal who was famous for his massive handlebar moustache. Bharadwaj does
his version of a Kannada/Tamil accent in Veerappan’s Hindi, but he does not let
that overshadow the rest of his performance, as a lesser actor might have. His
styling as Veerappan too is very very impressive.
The music might still have been forgivable,
but Joshi’s expressionlessness and Ray’s excessive expressions are too much to
take. Joshi of course is the film’s producer (his wife Raina’s name appears in
the credits though), so RGV most probably did not have a choice with him. But
what accounts for the casting of Ray? Her limitations are further underlined by
the fact that in many scenes she is placed opposite the very natural Usha
Jadhav playing Veerappan’s wife Muthulakshmi.
The film’s deficiencies are most
unfortunate because in its pluses we get a glimpse of the old Ramu that we all
once knew and loved, the man who gave us pathbreaking gangster and crime flicks
such as Shiva, Satya and Company. For
instance in Veerappan, it is
interesting to see the subtle ways in which RGV plants seeds of doubt in
viewers’ minds about the ‘truth’ as it is recounted by the police. The God
complex of the lead policemen too is unbridled and not softened up for the
viewers’ palate or in the interests of political correctness. The action is
well-handled, completely not Singham-style,
formulaic, over-the-top Bollywood but realistic and believable as it might have
happened in real life (barring a hilarious overhead shot of Joshi on elevated
ground scanning the surrounding area for Veerappan – the man is such a bad
actor that he cannot even stand correctly).
That being said, the difficult
terrain in which Veerappan operated is remarkably captured by Aniket
Khandagale’s camera in a way that is intended to overwhelm us, to remind us of
how challenging it would have been
for the police.
In certain aspects of
storytelling then, this is a film that cannot be ignored. It is however hard to
get past the poor acting by Joshi and Ray and that overly loud background
score. I kept imagining this film in my head with the same director, but with
music at a lower volume, starring Adil Hussain or Kay Kay Menon and Tabu in the
roles played by Joshi and Ray. What excellent co-stars they could have made to
the very talented Sandeep Bharadwaj. Too late for that of course.
Rating
(out of five): **1/4
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CBFC Rating (India):
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A
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Running time:
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125 minutes 27 seconds
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This
review has also been published on Firstpost:
Related
link: Anna M.M. Vetticad’s interview with Ram Gopal Varma on Firstpost:
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