The biopic of Srilankar spinner Muttiah Muralitharan starring Vijay Sethupathi released it’s mostion poster earlier this week. The film tittled “800” is directed by  MS Sripathy went viral on release. however while many appreciated and expressed excitemnet the poster did not sit wellwith a section of people. A lot of them started critising the actor to have chossen to play a cricketer who is from a country that is known for oppressing Tamilians.

Honoured to be a part of this landmark project. Update soon #MuthiahMuralidaran @MovieTrainMP #MuralidaranBiopic #MSSripathy #Vivekrangachari @proyuvraaj pic.twitter.com/lUbJwyiDsy

— VijaySethupathi (@VijaySethuOffl) October 8, 2020

 

#ShameOnVijaySethupathi started trending on Twitter and the actor was trolled for playing Muttiah Muralitharan in the biopic 800.

“Always admired Vijay Sethupathi as an actor. But now he shattered respect I had on him now by making this traitor’s life history who openly supported modern day dictator Rajapaksa. Murali himself said 2009 was his happiest year of his life #ShameOnVijaySethupati (sic),” wrote one user on Twitter.

Now the makers of the film have released an official statement clearing the air about the film’s genre.

“It came to our notice that our film ‘800’, the biopic of Muthiah Muralitharan featuring Vijay Sethupathi in the lead, is being politicized in many ways. However, we want to clarify that 800 is purely a sports biography film about the legendary cricketer Muthiah Muralitharan. The film is a journey about a man who hails from the Tamil migrant community, going on to become the highest wicket taker of all time. The film does not make any political statement favouring any community,” the statement read.

‘800’ is touted to be a  biopic of cricketer Muralitharan and will be shot on Sri Lanka, UK, Australia and India. The shoot is et to begin  at the beginning of 2021 and is set to release at the end of next year. The film will be made primarily in Tamil language. However, owing to Muralitharan and Sethupathi’s popularity, the film will also be dubbed in all South Indian languages as well as Hindi, Bengali and Sinhalese. An international version with English subtitles is also being planned.