The upcoming film, titled 800, lands in controversy over Makkal Selvan Vijay Sethupathi’ decision to essay the role of Muttiah Muralitharan, who is believed to have supported the Lankan government during the civil war with the LTTE.
The film ‘800’ was set to have Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi play the role of Muttiah Muralitharan, this did not go well with a section of Tamil groups and they demanded the actor to quit the film. Now finally Vijay Sethupathi has decided to opt out of a biopic of Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan- 800.
On the otherside Muttiah Muralitharan tried to explain and argued that he never treated Eelam Tamils with disrespect citing his own Tamil origin, many say there is footage and news reports suggesting the cricketer’s seemingly supportive stand for Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
In Tamil Nadu, Thamarai , Bharathiraja, Ameer, Cheran and Kadambur C Raju, had made statements and urged Vijay Sethupathi to withdraw from the project 800.
legendary cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan is a Lankan Tamil with roots in India but pro Tamil groups have branded him betrayer of Tamils and alleged Muralitharan supported the killing of Tamil civilians
PMK chief Dr P Ramadoss said that if Vijay Sethupathi leaves the project 800 he will find a place in Tamil history otherwise he will find a place in the history of betrayers.