Who was Veerappan? A criminal or a rebel? The question haunts the new Netflix docuseries The Hunt for Veerappan, created by Selvamani Selvaraj. Segmented into four episodes, The Hunt for Veerappan looks back at the poacher, who managed to evade and escape the efforts of the police and the special task forces of two states for almost two decades. Facts like Veerappan was the subject of India’s longest and costliest manhunt are thrown in . But it is the politics of disparity and an impossible central relationship that guides this sprawling saga to piece together the phenomenon that was Veerappan. (Also read: Poacher review: Richie Mehta crafts an atmospheric tale on illegal ivory trade)
The premise
The Hunt for Veerappan begins with the narrative introduction of its subject as a ‘husband’ – the point of view is first given to his wife Muthulakshmi. The year is 1989, and Veerappan was still relatively unknown. Muthulakshmi recalls her first memory of him walking with a bunch of men following him, his big rifle placed on his shoulder. Based in the small village of Gopinatham, located just near the border separating Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, no one was ready to talk openly about him.
Criminal or rebel?
The shift of viewpoint occurs from hereon, as other important perspectives begin to examine the activities of Veerappan. Investigative Journalist Sunaad, then-Karnataka Forest Officer B K Singh, underline the conviction and fearlessness with which Veerappan conducted his poaching activities and helped the impoverished in return – earning the goodwill very soon and becoming the leader. He then turned into a sandalwood smuggler. The threat only begins with his violent and merciless shooting of four police officers and then of Forest Officer Srinivas. Here was a man, who had challenged the entire might of the Police Force. He was ready to take on this fight.
The second episode, titled The Bloodbath, captures, in haunting and terrifying detail, how Veerappan confronted each new challenge thrown in by the Special Task Force. The murders continue. Blood spills. The unpacking of the details are integrated into the narrative with immense control by co-writers Forest Borrie, Apoorva Bakshi, Kimberly Hassett, and Selvaraj. These facts are presented with the archival pictures and the present day comments shared by the gang members, Muthulakshmi, some of the residents of Gopinatham and the task officers, including ‘Tiger’ Ashok Singh.
Balancing act of perspectives
The clincher here is the tone. The documentary acts as a prism for the version(s) of the incidents, the revelations and the truths to co-exist and confound one another. In The Truth of Veerappan, truth exists in the porous layers, in the sights and sounds of the dense jungle- creating a richly atmospheric canvas for revelation. The tone pulls off a dangerous balancing act- coming close to sympathizing the criminal yet stopping just short. The movement is not scattershot and insistent. Even as perspectives shift and polarize, the central narrative takes confident strides, superbly edited together by the team of Ajit K. Nair, Jack Price, and Weston Curie.
Then there is the central relationship that injects an unwieldy complexity into the narrative, as Muthulakshmi emerges with her version of the story. Their bond forms the tormented crux of The Hunt for Veerappan, as Selvaraj invites her perspective into the investigation. In one harrowing scene, she recounts the torture- physical and mental, at the hands of the Karnataka police after getting arrested. Even as The Hunt for Veerappan proceeds to address the horrifying murders and criminal activities that the man commits, the show also interrogates the system- unable and unjust to meet the demands of one man. The kidnapping of superstar Rajkumar and his subsequent release- what were the questions that were still being asked and how far were they revealed? Curiously, no one from the family of the star makes an appearance.
The Hunt for Veerappan works best, when its focus remains uncompromisingly on the devastating residues of this decades-long manhunt. Several police officers killed, a number of families imprisoned in connection to him, and so many unaccounted stories that remain buried under the shadows of pain and trauma. By that chilling end, I was somehow left shaken by its captivating visuals and reflective abundance.