Vijay Sethupathi pulls out of Muttiah Muralitharan biopic ‘800’

Vijay Sethupathi has opted out of 800, the biopic of former SriLankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan after severe social media backlash. Muttiah Muralitharan, in a statement, requested Vijay Sethupathi to opt out of his biopic 800 directed by M S Sripathy.

The actor tweeted a letter written by the former Sri Lankan cricketer, requesting him to withdraw from the film accompanied with the words “Thank You, goodbye”  in Tamil.

Ever since the actor’s first look from the project came out on October 13, several objections were raised by the Tamil community . The allegations said that Muralitharan was a supporter of the Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka which is accused of committing genocide against Tamil people. On social media, the hashtag #ShameonVijaySethupathi trended as several users asked the actor not to be associated with the film.

However, Muralitharan said that his comments were blown out of proportion.

In his statement Muttiah Muralitharan said that he is compelled to put out a statement as a lot of people are protesting against his biopic in Tamil Nadu.

The summary of his statement is, “ I understand that Vijay Sethupathi is facing a lot of pressure from a few people. I accepted this biopic because I thought the movie will inspire and provide confidence to aspiring young cricketers. I do not want a celebrated actor like him facing trouble because of people who misunderstood me. I do not want Vijay Sethupathi to face any problem in future. Hence, I am asking him to opt out of the biopic.”

Although Muralitharan has requested Vijay Sethupathi to step away from the project, the cricketer has said that he hopes to see this film make it to the big screen.

800, to be produced by Movie Train Motion Pictures and Dar Motion Pictures, has been receiving sharp criticism from a section of Tamils, including Tamil film industry veterans like director Bharathiraja. However, others like actor Radikaa Sarathkumar had supported Vijay Sethupathi. The production house had said in a letter earlier that the film will not hurt the sentiments of anyone.