By Haricharan Pudipeddi
Chennai, April 12 (IANS): Maverick filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, known for path-breaking films such as "Sarkar" and "Rakht Charitra", will next make a movie titled "Killing Veerappan" on the man who gunned down the dreaded smuggler.

A multi-lingual project, "Killing Veerappan" will be made in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Hindi.

"I've always been fascinated by the story of Veerappan, and have been waiting to make a film on his life. Finally, I've got the perfect script that'll do justice to his story," Varma told IANS.

Kannada superstar Shivrajkumar has been roped in to play the killer of Veerappan, while RGV is yet to cast someone to play Veerappan.

"My story will not focus on Veerappan, but on the man who killed him. I've cast Shivrajkumar for a particular reason. Veerappan had kidnapped legendary actor Rajkumar many years ago, and now I'm giving his real-life son, Shivrajkumar, an opportunity to take reel revenge on the villain," he said.

Veerappan, one of the most wanted of Indian bandits, ruled the forests of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for several decades, smuggling tonnes of sandalwood. He was gunned down by the police in 2004.

"The governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka had spent hundreds of crores for his capture. Thousands of police personnel were on his trail for years. But only one man could kill him. My story will focus on that one individual," he said.

According to RGV, there was nobody else more dangerous than Veerappan.

"I can't find anybody more dreaded and dangerous than Veerappan. He was more cunning, ruthless and barbaric than Osama Bin Laden. Agreed Osama may have had bigger network and was working on an international scale, but he wasn't more dangerous than Veerappan, who, according to me, is the most dangerous villain ever," he added.

RGV, who is busy writing the film, will officially launch it by the end of this month or next.

"I'm almost done writing. I've been watching all films, videos and documentaries available on Veerappan. My story will be narrated from a different perspective as I have found new information from different sources."

"We are waiting for Shivrajkumar to be relieved of his current commitments. If all goes well, we might launch the film this month or in early May," he said, and added that other cast members are yet to be finalised.

When asked about whom he will cast in the role of Veerappan, Varma said it will be a surprise and that he wants to keep the identity of the actor a secret for now.