Legal hurdles to the release of the trilingual biopic on slain forest brigand Veerappan, directed by A.M.R. Ramesh, have finally been cleared.
The Madras High Court has allowed the release of the film — Attahasa (Kannada), Veerappan (Telugu) and Vanayuddham (Tamil).
Mr. Ramesh told The Hindu that the film would hit the screens either on February 14 or 15.
Upheld
Senior advocate A. Natarajan, who argued the case on behalf of Mr. Ramesh, said Muthulakshmi, wife of Veerappan, had filed an appeal in the Civil Court seeking a directive to the director against releasing the film. However, a civil revision petition was filed in the Madras High Court questioning the appeal. The court on Friday upheld the contention of the producer and director and allowed the film’s release.
“Finally, the truth prevailed as the film is based on true story and documents in public domain. There is nothing (in the film) that hurts the sentiments of either Ms. Muthulakshmi or her daughter, as argued,” he said.
Mr. Ramesh said journalist Nakkeeran Gopal had withdrawn his petition seeking an injunction against the film’s release after watching the film. “He appreciated out efforts,” Mr. Ramesh said.
The biopic, which took 10 years of research, stars Kishore as Veerappan, Arjun Sarja as STF chief K. Vijayakumar, Suresh Oberoi as the late actor Rajkumar, Sulakshana as Parvathamma Rajkumar, Jayachitra as Jayalalithaa and Vijayalakshmi as Muthulakshmi. Mr. Ramesh himself appears in the role of Gurunathan, Veerappan’s lieutenant.
