Vijay Sethupathi to star in Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan’s biopic

Ace Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan’s captivating journey as a cricketer will be made into a biopic with popular Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi in the lead role.

The motion picture and first look of the biopic, '800', the number of wickets that Muralitharan has taken in his test career, was released on Tuesday evening.

Sethupathi will play Muralitharan in the film to be directed by M S Sripathy. The film, whose shooting will begin in early 2021, will be made primarily in Tamil, Muralitharan’s mother tongue, as well as in Hindi, Bengali, and Sinhalese.

Muralitharan, whose ancestors hailed from Tamil Nadu, is married to Mathimalar from Chennai. In a show that was broadcasted on Star Sports, Muralitharan and Sethupathi shared their thoughts on the upcoming movie.

“I trust Vijay completely as he is one of the greatest actors and I have complete faith that he will definitely do wonders for the film,” the spinner told Star Sports’ pre-show Cricket Live.

But not all in Tamil Nadu are happy about the biopic. Fringe outfits have demanded Sethupathi to drop out of the film citing Muralitharan’s past statements supporting the Sri Lankan government. Muralitharan had been critical of the Tamil separatist movement in the past and the fringe outfits are asking Sethupathi not to act in the biopic.