Bollywood director Ram Gopal Verma said that his upcoming biopic 'Veerappan' was based on the true story of hunting down of the dreaded sandalwood smuggler, who was killed in 2004.

"My film is not a glorification of Veerappan. The film tells you about how he was killed and it also tries to find out how such characters are born," Verma told reporters here.

The director of acclaimed films like 'Satya' and 'Company' said, "The issue is not whether my film will send out a positive or negative message. Veerappan was a reality of our society, who posed a serious questions about the internal security of the country. My film also features the brave police officers, who killed Veerappan after a difficult search campaign."

To another question, he said, "In a way Veerappan was a more unique character than Osama Bin Laden...Laden had his own organisation and some countries were also helping him. But Veerappan did not have any such support."