‘Jawan’ actor Vijay Sethupathi pulled out of Muttiah Muralitharan’s biopic ‘800’ - here’s why
800 on 17 April 2023, which coincided with the Sri Lankan cricketer’s birthday. Madhur Mittal is stepping into the lead role previously slated for Vijay Sethupathi. Let’s find out why the Jawan star is not a part of this movie anymore.
Originally, this highly-anticipated project was set to star Sethupathi and was going to be produced under Rana Daggubati's banner, Suresh Productions, with MS Sripathy as the director. However, the production faced numerous roadblocks and controversies. The film first sparked social media uproar after the release of its motion poster during a 2020 IPL match.
It found itself at the centre of a political storm. The criticism mainly revolved around Sethupathi, who faced enormous backlash for agreeing to portray Muralitharan. Critics and netizens accused Muralitharan of supporting the Rajapaksa government and objected to a Tamil actor depicting a Sri Lankan.
Adding fuel to the controversy, politicians from Tamil Nadu and Dravidian outfits in Coimbatore also weighed in, urging Sethupathi to abandon the role. They cited the alleged involvement of Muralitharan in supporting the Sinhalese during the Sri Lankan Civil War and recalled the tragic events of the war, during which more than 200,000 Sri Lankan Tamils were reportedly killed. Muralitharan himself intervened amid the uproar, strongly denying claims that he had supported the killing of innocent civilians.
Despite these denials, the tension failed to ease. The cricket legend then requested Sethupathi to pull out of the project. Eventually, the film did not proceed as initially planned.
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