Vijay Sethupathi is unrecognisable as cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan in poster of 800

Vijay Sethupathi is set to play the role of famed Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan in the upcoming biopic 800. 

 

 

 

 

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Honoured to be a part of this landmark project. Update soon #MuthiahMuralidaran @MovieTrainMP #MuralidaranBiopic #MSSripathy #Vivekrangachari @proyuvraaj

A post shared by Vijay Sethupathi (@actorvijaysethupathi) on Oct 8, 2020 at 12:54am PDT

Named after the cricketer’s feat of amassing 800 test wickets in his 18 year-long international career, the movie will deal with the high points of Murali’s life and more. The motion poster of 800 was recently unveiled by the makers and hints that many unseen facets of the bowler's life will come to the fore. 

MURALIDARAN BIOPIC... Motion poster of #MuralidaranBiopic... Titled #800TheMovie... Stars #VijaySethupathi as cricketer #MuthiahMuralidaran... Directed by #MSSripathy... Produced by Movie Train Motion Pictures and Vivek Rangachari. pic.twitter.com/9RuAeCK7BB

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) October 13, 2020

However, 24 hours after the announcement the hashtag #ShameOnVijaySethupathi was trending. 

Netizens took to Twitter to make their displeasure with Vijay Sethupathi known for playing the Sri Lankan cricketer on screen as he hails from the country that oppressed Tamils.

Many pointed out that the Sri Lankan government was responsible for killing thousands of Tamils and treating them as minorities in the country. Director Seenu Ramasamy, too, requested Vijay Sethupathi to reconsider his decision of doing the film.