- Ace Cricketer requests Vijay to drop after protests across TN
- Muralitharan felt it would mar Makkal Selvan’s career
- Vijay trolled by fans, film celebrities, politicians
Chennai: The latest twist to the story of Muttiah Muralitharan’s biopic titled ‘800’ is that the hero, Vijay Sethupathi, announced his exit from the project. The actor responded to the statement by Muralitharan which said that “there was enormous pressure on Vijay to drop from the project due to misconception and I don’t want to push his future into trouble and hence I request Vijay to come out of the project.” In response to Muralitharan tweet, Vijay said “Thank you and Goodbye”.
Muralitharan felt his biopic would inspire and provide confidence in young cricketers but after witnessing severe protests, he said it is best for actor to opt out of the project.
The critics started from day one when the flick was announced last year and became worse with the release of motion poster which showed the LTTE war scene, blasting a bus and attack on Tamilians in Sri Lanka.
Cricketer Muttiah, who is a bowling coach for Sun risers Hyderabad team, from UAE, released statement on social media, by saying that project will not be stopped and the Vijay Sethupathi will be replaced soon. The replacement will be announced shortly by film makers.
Muralitharan thanked one and all who supported him during this crisis with critics and protests. Muralitharan, who took highest number of wickets in test cricket history, had supported Rajapaksa and never condemned the atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka and, in fact, expressed joy in 2009 for the victory of Sri Lankan army against LTTE. How can we expect our actor to play a biopic of such a person” Sethupathi fans tweeted with anguish when the motion poster was released. The cricketer had refuted all criticisms against him that he supported Rajapaksa and spoke against Tamils in Sri Lanka. Muralitharan got married to daughter of Chennai doctor’s and never thought that he will be facing such harsh responses from TN against his biopic ‘800,’a number which indicates his wicket haul in World’s Test cricket history which is a record.
