Ram Gopal Varma's 'Killing Veerappan' not released in ChennaiJan 2(AZINS) Petitioner Paneer Selvi from Salem had filed a case in the Madras High Court seeking a ban on the release of Ram Gopal Varma's Killing Veerappan in Tamil Nadu. However, on December 30, the Madras High Court refused to give an interim stay on the film.

Director Ram Gopal Varma's Killing Veerappan sees Kannada star Shivaraj Kumar portray the role of a police officer while Sandeep Bharadwaj has played Veerappan. Actress Yagna Shetty has played the sandalwood smuggler's wife. The petitioner had stated that RGV's film showed the Tamil Nadu police and its people in bad light.

In this Telugu-Kannada bilingual, RGV has tried to recapture the circumstances under which the sandalwood smuggler was killed and how he had kept the cops in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka at bay for nearly 40 years.

The notorious smuggler Veerappan had kidnapped Dr. Rajkumar of the Kannada film industry, on July 30, 2000. He was held captive for 108 days and released on November 15, 2000. This incident is said to be one of the worst events that took place in Karnataka this century. Interestingly, one of Dr Rajkumar's sons - Shivaraj Kumar - plays the police officer in the film.