MUMBAI: Director AMR Ramesh, known to make films based on real life incidents and controversial subjects, is making a Tamil film Vana Yudham based on the story of sandalwood smuggler Veerappan and Dr Rajkumar, whom the former took as a hostage.

Ramesh said in a statement, "I was always interested in Veerappan and his life. In fact, right from the time I was a child, I‘ve been interested in his life history."

In 2000 when Ramesh was researching for a project, Dr Rajkumar‘s kidnapping took place. The director knew Kempaiah, the officer who had surrounded Sivarasan‘s house in Bangalore before the shoot out happened.

After Dr Rajkumar‘s release, Kempaiah was chosen as STF chief and he led the search for the brigand in the forest. Ramesh went ahead and collected details from him and two other officers Vijayakumar and Senthamarai Kannan who were responsible for getting Veerappan.

"Only these two officers know how exactly Veerappan met his end. Vanayudham is about how Vijayakumar and Senthamarai Kannan tracked and killed Veerappan," Ramesh declared.

While Kishore plays Veerappan, Arjun plays Vijayakumar, Vijayalakshmi plays Veerappan‘s wife and Suresh Oberoi essays the role of Dr Rajkumar.