Opposition to Vijay Sethupathi playing Muthiah Muralitharan in biopic?

VanniArasu, the state spokesperson of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), has taken exception to actor Vijay Sethupathi’s decision to play one of the world’s finest and greatest cricketers, Muthiah Muralidharan, in his official biopic.

Produced by Dar Motion Pictures, the film has been titled 800 and is being directed by M S Sripathy.

According to media reports, Vanniarasu, in a Facebook post, has alleged that although Muthiah Muralitharan was a Tamil who was born in Kandy, he had been living as a Sinhalese. When the LTTE were fighting the Sinhalese, he stood by the latter, he alleged and claimed that Lankan Tamils would not accept Vijay Sethupathi playing the character of Muthiah Muralitharan.

It may be recalled that Vijay Sethupathi, while commenting about the project, had said, “I am happy to be associated with the Muttiah Muralitharan biopic. He is an iconic sportsman of Tamil origin and someone who’s made his mark across the world. Portraying the role of Murali is going to be a challenge for me and I’m looking forward to it. I’m delighted that Murali himself will be closely involved with the project & guiding me on the cricketing aspects. I am thankful to both Murali and the producers for the faith bestowed on me.”

The film, which has been written by M.S.Sripathy, will be made in Tamil and released in several languages across the world.

Cricketer Muthiah Muralidharan, while commenting about his biopic, had said, ” I am glad to be collaborating with Dar Motion Pictures on my official biopic. We are looking at a late 2020 release date. I an honoured that an accomplished actor such as Makkal Selvan Vijay Sethupathi will be playing me in the film. I have been actively collaborating with the creative team for the past several months and I will continue to support this project through its duration.”