Wife opposes film on Veerappan

V Muthulakshmi, wife of slain forest brigand Veerappan, has expressed reservations over the bilingual film (‘Attahasa’ in Kannada and ‘Vanayudham’ in Tamil, respectively), saying the film amounts to violation of human rights.

She has demanded that the producer abandon the project immediately.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, she said M R Ramesh - the producer of the movie - had neither spoken to her nor sought her permission before shooting the film.

“Moreover, he has no right to produce or make a film on the personal life of Veerappan, which involves me,” she said. Noting that the film portrays Veerappan and her in ‘negative light,’ she said it amounted to human rights violations.

She cited a case by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, who obtained a stay against a private publishing house trying to feature her.

“The same applies to my case, too. Moreover, I have registered photos of Veerappan and my life story with the Copyrights Department. Therefore, he cannot make the film,” she said.

Muthulakshmi said the filmmaker had not even spared her as she had been portrayed as supporting Veerappan, which is not true. Muthulakshmi said her husband was a ‘good man’ and was respected in Gopinatham and neighbouring villages.

She further said complaints being made against the Special Task Force about atrocities during the anti-Veerappan operations were true
.  
Blames Bidari

She said Shankar Bidari was directly responsible for atrocities on women.“I met him twice, he beat me up, gave me electric shock and asked me to remove my mangalsutra,” she said.

Noting that there was no sufficient evidence to prove it, she welcomed the HC judgement upholding the CAT order, which struck down Bidari’s appointment as the State police chief.