Chennai: Ace filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has been floored by the dedication of debutant Sandeep Bharadwaj, who plays the dreaded sandalwood smuggler Veerappan in his upcoming multilingual film 'Killing Veerappan'.

"Never in my career have I seen a more dedicated and a more methodical actor than Sandeep. It's not an exaggeration to say that he actually started thinking like Veerappan," Varma said in a statement.

"The biggest compliment a unit member gave Sandeep was by warning him that he could be killed because people might mistake him for real Veerappan," he said.

Sandeep, who looks incredibly close to real Veerappan in the posters of the movie, is a student of the National School of Drama.

Kannada superstar Shivrajkumar plays the lead role, while actresses Parul Yadav and Yanga Shetty will be seen essaying important roles.