Film on Veerappan only with the truth

By: Settu Shankar
Friday, March 23, 2007
If you get a chance to be a congress member...
I would never accept the offer. I'm very firm in my decision.

You told that Veerappan had a lot of affection for you. Did you have a chance to get him back to the normal life?
Yes... many times I got such chances. I persuaded him to surrender his weapons and lead a normal life. But he refused, and explained the reasons behind his denial. He told me, ''Muthu... you are too young to understand the nature of people around me. They are the reason for my jungle life. If I don't continue this jungle life, they will send me to the burial ground. They will never allow us to come-out from this jungle. Another important thing is... I have spent more than two third of my life in this dense forest and live like a king. I don't like to work under anybody or depend on any big head. If the Government is ready to give me the status of Poolan Devi, I am ready to surrender my weapons. Burt I don't want to spend even a single day behind bars. But I know, this is not possible in the present setup...'' After I understood his mentality, I allowed him to do things in his own way.

There was news about the making of a cinema on Veerappan's life with your association...
It is an absolutely wrong news. Many had approached me for this previously, but I refused. Actually what happened is... Few weeks ago a film Director namely Ramesh (director of the film 'Cyanide') from Bangalore approached me to make a film on Veerappan's life. I was ready to give my assistance to him, if he was ready to portray the actual story of Veerappan with honesty and dignity. But that director offered me Rs.50, 000 for casting me in the wife's character with some other hero. How could I accept this offer? Still I'm living with the memories of my husband Veerappan. He was the real hero in my life. How can I pair with someone else for cinema? It is unimaginable for me to act as someone's wife in a movie. That director thought that I would accept this offer due to the money he was offering. I have already seen crores of money just as pieces of paper. I never bother about money.

Even now, I'm ready to co-operate with film people who wish to make a genuine film on Veerappan. But I would never like to appear in the film as Veerappan's wife or as any other character. I'm not an actress. If the situation compels, I would like to appear before the title card and give a preface to the film. I don't expect a single penny from anybody for doing this much.