Over the last week, the announcement of a biopic on legendary off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has caused a big controversy in Tamil Nadu. ...
Over the last week, the announcement of a biopic on legendary off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has caused a big controversy in Tamil Nadu.
Several political parties and Tamil nationalist sympathisers have claimed that the movie an attempt to whitewash a figure who is problematic in Sri Lanka. They believe that the actor Vijay Sethupathi, a rising star of Tamil cinema, should not become a vehicle to glorify Muralitharan, whose politics, they allege, has damaged to the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils.
However, this attempt by Tamil nationalist groups to play super censor and dictate terms to the cinema star has not gone unopposed. Some in the Tamil film industry have strongly criticised the calls for Sethupathi to withdraw from the project.
The biopic
The controversy began to bubble on October 8, when Vijay Sethupathi, took to Twitter to announce the launch of 800, a biopic on Muralitharan. The actor has in recent times been praised for his performances in movies such as 96 and Super Delux. He does not shy away from experimenting with complex roles and is now considered one of the leading stars of Tamil cinema.
The 800 number in the film title is a reference to the number of Test wickets that Muralitharan took in his career, which lasted...
