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Based on their real-life abduction by Veerappan in 1997, the book recounts Krupakar and Senani’s fourteen days in captivity and reveals an unexpected side of India’s most wanted dacoit. Summary Of The Book In October 1997, while working on a documentary film in the Bandipur forest in Karnataka, filmmakers Krupakar and Senani were abducted by Veerappan, India’s most wanted dacoit at the time. Veerappan had mistaken them for government officials and intended to hold them ransom to negotiate terms. Bewildered by this bizarre incident, Krupakar and Senani had to face their fears and overcome them too. Veerappan was no ordinary dacoit. They knew that he was a smuggler and a mass murderer, and that their lives were in his hands. However, amidst such hopeless circumstances, they discovered something that no one could have ever imagined. The man known to be a wild and untamable outlaw was in fact quite humane. A devotee of Lord Muneswara, he would cover his forehead with the holy ash every morning. He would easily drift into a philosophical monologue or a discourse on spirituality and could even produce a perfect monkey call. His men too were quite sociable and eager to learn. They spent fourteen days in captivity and left the camp with a heavy heart. In this extraordinary personal account, Krupakar and Senani defy the common view of Veerappan and narrate a story that is incredibly revealing and intensely moving. Originally written as a series in a Kannada weekly, Sudha, the story was converted into a book in the Kannada language. The book was later translated to English by well-known translator S. R. Ramakrishna. About The Authors Krupakar B.S. and Senani Hegde are eminent wildlife photographers, filmmakers, and conservationists. They are more popularly referred to as Krupakar-Senani. Together they have made many award-winning documentaries on wildlife. These include The Pack: Episode 5, which won the prestigious Green Oscar Award in 2010, and Wild Dog Diaries, which received many awards at international film festivals, including those held in France, Germany, UK, and Japan. They have co-authored a book called Jeeva Jaala with Dr. K Puttaswamy, for which they received the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award in 1999 for Science Writing. The duo hails from Mysore, Karnataka. Krupakar worked as a journalist before venturing into professional photography, and Hegde worked in the construction business before taking up wildlife photography with Krupakar. They have also founded Namma Sangha, a conservationist society in the Bandipur forest, which has been successful in removing fuel wood from the forest and introducing cooking gas in the nearby villages.