Trailer: Ram Gopal Varma Returns To Form In KILLING VEERAPPAN

Ram Gopal Varma is one of India's most prominent independent filmmakers over the last two decades. From his start with films like the Telugu crime classic Shiva through his Hindi gangster epic Company in the early part of the 21st century, Varma blazed an edgy trail through Indian genre cinema that encouraged and nurtured the careers of many who came after him. No less than the godfather of Indian Independent cinema himself, Anurag Kashyap, got his big break by writing RGV's Satya over a decade ago. However, the last several years have been rough for RGV.

After a string of a dozen or more massive flops in multiple languages, Ram Gopal Varma has become associated with box office and critical failure. Even his highest profile ventures have met with disappointed critics and audiences as he's ventured further and further from the formula that made him a formidable player in India. On the positive side, Varma has used these lean years to expand his technical horizons and experiment with new shooting and delivery systems. His last several films have been shot on Digital SLR's which manage the budgets quite handily, however, RGV has seems to have lost the magic touch that propelled him to the top of the Indian Indie heap in the early part of the century.

And then, there was Killing Veerappan.

RGV's latest film, Killing Veerappan is a bilingual crime story about the real life jungle bandit and murderer Veerappan who managed to avoid Indian authorities for two full decades. The film appears to mark a return to form for Varma, and most of the advanced word has been remarkably positive. The film, shot simultaneously in Kannada and Telugu, opened in India on January 1st and has critics fall over themselves with the kind of praise that Varma hasn't enjoyed in nearly a decade. In fact, even RGV himself is a bit taken aback at the response:

Many people after seeing the trailer of #KillingVeerappan almost seem to be scared that I actually might have made a good film ?

-- Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) December 29, 2015

But hey, we've all wanted him to make another great film, we just weren't sure if he had it in him anymore! While we wait for the film to release in Telugu and possibly overseas, enjoyt the first trailer for Ram Gopal Varma's Killing Veerappan.