Filmmaker Ravi regrets not catching Rajiv Gandhi murder mastermind

Thiruvananthapuram, July 14 (IANS) Malayalam filmmaker and retired army commando Major Ravi still rues that he could not catch Sivarasan, the mastermind behind former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, in Bangalore due to a delay in storming into the house where Sivarasan was hiding.

Ravi was heading the six-member National Security Guard Commando team that stormed into the house where Sivarasan was hiding. Karthikeyan, the chief of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing into the assassination, was in Hyderabad when the team neared the house on Aug 18, 1991.

"As the SIT chief wanted the team to storm into the house in his presence, we entered the spot after two days and could only recover the dead bodies," he said.

Ravi was here with his second Malayalam film "Mission 90 Days" which tells the story about the trial of the killers of Gandhi. It stars veteran actor Mammootty in the role of Captain Ravindran, the name by which Ravi was known during those days.

His first film "Kirthi Chakara", released last year, had won rave reviews for being the first Malayalam film about life in the army.

"Both these stories are told from my instincts which is fully based on my life in the army. These films are true to the core," said Ravi, who quit the army and then worked as an assistant to ace film maker Priyadarshan.

"If Karthikeyan had given us the permission to storm the house, we would have done it on 18th night itself. He was selfish, may be he wanted to be there when the actual operations took place.

"Even in his book which he has written, Karthikeyan only mentions that he was in Hyderabad on an important mission that day," he said Saturday.

"If he had permitted, then two things might have happened, either Sivarasan would have killed me or I would have killed him, because of the six member commando group I would have been the first to enter the house. Just before entering, I told my team to call up home, because may be we would never have come back alive," recalled Ravi.

About his new film, he said, "I have made the film just as it happened and none would have been in a better position than me to direct it.

"All the intricate details of what happened have been filmed. There has been no gimmick, apart from a song.

"I have two more stories on the Kandahar hijacking and the Kargil war. It is not that I am obsessed with the army, it is simply because I spent a 'sensible time' there," he said.

Ravi said he struggled to be a filmmaker initially, but now after the success of his films, he was getting calls from people from various places.

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Mission 90 days