Ffiffi Ffiffiffiffi Iii ,Ir a New English Adaptation Paints an Unlikely Picture of Veerappan As a Gifted Folk Hero of Sorts, Says Jaideep Sen
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ffiffi ffiffiffiffi iii ,ir A new English adaptation paints an unlikely picture of Veerappan as a gifted folk hero of sorts, says Jaideep sen. "straddled irsr,-ryrFi he leathery face that stared back to have invented a style that ;: at Senani Hegde on the evening bharatanatyam and disco". ; of October 8, 1997,belonged to While it isn't at all unreasonable to Veerappan. ltwas a soundless, starless expectthat an account such as this, of night in Bandipur, and Hegde, a wildlife abduction, pursuit and concealment, filmmaker, had stepped outfor a stroll, should produce frissons of excitement, skirtingthe decrepit colonial bungalow in Birds, Beasts and Bandits, ratherthan afarcornerof theforestwhich served as a cleavingto genre, elicits sPasms temporary base of operations for him and of laughter. For starters, the raid his associate BS KruPakar. which resulted in the kidnaPPing Hegde's immediate of Krupakar and response, upon Hegde, it turned encounteringthe man &Y out, was on a who was then the most false tip-off, as '1i expected wanted criminal in r:,rii.F-;r.i-i:i.flili. F ii Veerappan to make a snatch Karnataka, was to invite iilltii:ti ti*ttr him home, quite like * of government he would if he chanced l-r*-'+' +.: $ $':l:tir officials and guns, upon an old friend. But not filmmakers, :., I +;1t,tii :ii,1,i: f ii itwasn'tgoingto be cameras and Nationa/ ;i'i';rr: an evening spent in ut I$ :,;,I :+"li 11 i',j,i ! l r iii, :{ Geographic magazines. The encounter also sets cheerful bonhomie and li: rlli lr.i,;li i t',,t. i': conviviality. Veerappan, the tone for the book, as a bandit, poacherand Hegde promptly begins ivory smuggler who had eluded capture reproaching the gun-wielding intruders, for close to a decade, abducted the duo much to their alarm, for stomping on and inside their home. Days a nd, along with four others - th ree forest squashing beetles officers and Satyabrata lvlaithi, a scientist later in the jungle -the fugitive had at the Central Agricultural Research decided to kidnaP them anYwaY-the lnstitute in Bangalore - held them to filmmakersrepeatedlyreprimand &* ransom for 14 days. their captors for hunting monkeys' %, A week into caPtivity, as Hedge and sambar and non-venomous Krupakar recount in their book, Birds, snakes. (Veerappan's nabbing of Beasts and Bandits, Veerappan began the Kannada film star Rajkumar in to warm to their company (these writings 2OO0 was a lot more Publicised, were first released in 1998 as a series of and afteryears of evadingthe law, vignettes in the Kannada weekly Sudha the brigand was finally killed in 2004.) and later released as a compilation in At its heart, Birds, Beasts 2000; the new Engllsh-language edition and Bandlts is the is of translations of those original articles implausible account bythe journalist SR Ramakrishna). The of a feared outlaw and hostages and their captors had settled his band of renegades around the radio for regional bulletins and endearing themselves some music that evening - a romantic Kannada song of KS Narasimhaswamy's ix$;;tffiil,T*, I sung by Rathnamala Prakash was documentaries on on. Unexpectedly then, bidding for an dholes, or lndian n old cassette to be played, Veerappan wild dogs - by I offered to dance forthe group. The show sharinsobservations'i that followed - set to the melodies of and en-gaging in I a harmonium and mridangam, with the discussions on bandit dressed down to his vest and shorts the mannerisms of - was equally spirited and bizarre. As the the black-headed book describes lt, Veerappan seemed orioles, long-tailed 16 www.timeoutben$aluru.net Septe mber L6 - 29 2Ot! kaajanas (racket-tai led drongos), barbets scored the music for one of their earlier they roll tobacco in mulberry, as it burns and crested hawk eagles that surrounded productions. "They couldn 't have written slowerthan other leaves. them i n the forests of Bandipur. Veerappan an academic account. They are storytellers The banter arrives at the subject of goes on to regale his prisoners, imitating who look for drama even when they study elephants when the abductees realise elephant calls, mimicking wild boars wild dogs." He added that he'd taken care thatthe bandits had carried alongthe digging fortubers and play-acting scenes of not to tone down the original passages, magazines and, in particular, a book titled animated langurs spotting a leopard. some of which bestow the bandit with The Sacred Elephantas lootfrom their On other occasions, the brigand stumps rare gumption and larger-than-life valour. home. ln a candid moment, Veerappan the duo, picking out clues from flattened "Veerappan is many things rubbishes the suggestion that grass patches, detecting signs of animal to many people," reasoned he'd slain thousands oftuskers, kills and harkeningto bird calls. They also Ramakrishna. "There's 6) lamentingthat he'd been blamed note how Veerappan was exceptionally Veerappan who killed without forthe crimes of others. "After fit, withthe "rubber-likeflexibility" of a qualm. There's Veerappan ltwas spendingyears in the Nilgiri streetgymnast, atwell pastthe age of who took on the police and the trpgic do see Biosphere Reserve Iin the course 50. Sethukuli Govindan, Veerappan's Army. And there's Veerappan .rra-tirt/q trrrJ r, lieutenant, comes across as one with the who, butfor his crimes, would th6s h oys i,ltUSkerS Jl; i!YlJ[] individually,,, i#: l;;:e5l;', eXplained :,i S" " demeanour of a wild cat to them - given be remembered as a folk hero, On A bOAt Hedge. "Naturally, we developedeveloped instinctively or an illustrious naturalist. " aJtaclm91r oi{9yr to scanning surroundings, 3n 910 q9 picking up sounds and stalking stags like a Hedge explained that WithOUt best, underthe situation, to argue leopard on the prowl. The filmmakers were Veerappan's aping of animal e sail forthem. " They weren't convinced no lessthan astounded bythese "virtuoso calls was "truly stunning" that Veerappan had given up performances", so much that they suggest to them, because they considered poaching, he added. "Possibly, he had they might have found "the themselves well-versed with the "language found other easier ways to extract money, *:lr,- sensitive graso of a great of the forest" . "To d ifferentiate great and hence poachingwas notviable." music pieces from an ordinary one, you Some ofthose exchanges seem \cre--,';,::"::l;::1". need to know the language of music, " downright nonsensical, asthe duo " Many people think he offered. "lt was natural expression to convincethe banditthat itwould be Krupakar and Senani suffered us, and we had little hesitation in putting impractical to kidnap foreigners, because from Stockholm syndrome, " itdown in writing-a hardcore criminal they'd need an unlimited supply of bottled said Ramakrishna, referring to can be talented too." One ofthe reasons water, and their prisoners would inevitably the psychological phenomenon they felt emboldened in the outlaw's end up with runnytummies. "lt's just wherein hostages express presence was that, at some point, they thatwe could smile at situations where empathy for their captors. believed he had no reason to killthem, someone else would fear for their dear "They dismiss such said Hedge. "Middleclass fears like god, life," remarked Hedge. The chatalso talk as nonsense. They devil, darkness, wife, children, school turns grave momentarily, as theygoad were aware that he was admissions, homework, were unknown Veerappan into discussing Gandhi, or the ruthless and unforgiving. to us. Hence we could manage! " As they late LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, and But for their narrative, we began forging relationships with the the likes of Shakeel Ahmed, an inspector probably wou ld never have band, Hedge even began teaching them and acquaintance ofthe duo, who'd been glimpsed Veerappan's English. "We were concerned and thought killed in one of innumerable shootouts joking, dancing slde." itwas possible to rehabilitate some of the between the police and the brigand. The playful aspects were youngsters," he said. "ltwastragicto see Itwas Dasara in Mysore atthe time, really in the "adventurous, those boys on a boatwithout a sail." noted Hegde, and the gloomiest episodes fun-loving" nature The book's most entertaining segments of theircaptivity had been of Veerappan of the filmmakers, are, nevertheless, in the duo's constant recounting his childhood, in the village of said Ramakrishna, raillery, and eye forthings amusing, Gopinatham, atthe foothills of the Male who also from howthe brigand combed his Mahadeswar Hills, when he would find moustache, to his alarming ignorance "whites" heading out on elephant raids about current affairs, and his woeful and hauling away chopped legs and tusks grasp of pronunciation. Ayodhya became on horseback. Ramakrishna reflected that "Ayogya", and JH Patel, the Chief Minister the bookwas more a journal than a serious of Karnataka at the time, sounded Czech journalistic attempt, as details that readers in Veerappan's unlettered tongue, recalled might expect on the band's forces, arms Hedge. There's also a touch of poetry at their disposal, and their alleged clout, in these passages, such as when they are glaringly omitted. Hegde explained liken Veerappan insisting on sleeping thatthey'd consciously stayed within their with a loaded gun beside them to "the own experiences. "About the weapons, stubborn Nakshatrika who dogged King connections and wealth, you would never Harishchandra". On one mornlng, as the getatrue answer," he reasoned. "About ' camp is treated to a meal of stag, the duo the human killings, we were not interested, likens the meat, sliced and strung on a and we did notwantto give him an undue branch to dry, resembling kanakambara platform to defend himself. " Birds, Beasts flowers. Hegde even preps Veerappan and Bandits, ultimately, reveals that for a few rare photographs, adjusting his "there was an actor, even a clown, in moustache for the shot.