Chennai: Amid controversy over popular Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi donning the role of cricketer Muthiah Muralidaran, the latter has appealed to the actor to bow out of the project considering film career. Vijay Sethupathi confirmed that he has pulled out of 800, Muttiah Muralidaran 's biopic. "Everything is over," the actor said when asked to explain his tweet thanking the cricketer's request to drop out of the project to protect his acting career. He met the media after he called on Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and paid respects to deceased Thavusayammal, mother of CM.
Vijay Sethupathi (VSP) tweeted 'Nandri Vanakkam', (meaning - 'Thank You. Greetings' a common way of greeting while parting) hinting that he would quit the project.
In his statement, the cricketer maintained that he does not want the artist Vijay Sethupathi to suffer due to this project. "To ensure that this does not affect the future journey of Vijay Sethupathi, I request the actor to quit the project", Muralidaran said in a statement dated Oct 19.
While thanking those who stood by him and Vijay Sethpuathi in testing times, the cricketer noted that the production crew has assured him that the biopic which is expected to encourage the troubled youth will see the light of the day soon. The decision of Vijay Sethupathi is welcomed by most of the leaders including VCK MP Thol Thirumavalavan and several other pro-Tamil leaders.
The first look and motion poster of the cricketer's biopic - 800 kicked up a storm across the Tamil diaspora living across the world and in Tamil Nadu, most of them requesting the actor to reconsider his decision to play Muralidaran. Muralidaran who is currently in a bio-secure bubble setup in UAE for this year's IPL is busy as the head coach of SunRisers Hyderabad.
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A section of tinsel town including veteran director Bharathiraja and lyricist Vairamuthu has appealed to Vijaya Sethupathi to quit the project considering the political stand of Muralidaran.MDMK leader and Rajyasabha MP Vaiko, PMK founder Ramadoss, and many other pro-Tamil leaders aired their grievances blaming Muralidaran of being pro-Sinhalese.
Actor Radhika, her husband Sarathkumar, quiz master and analyst Sumanth C Raman has thrown their weight behind Vijay Sethupathi condemning the pressure mounted on the actor as being fascist. Muralidaran in an interview to BBC Tamil has stated that his happiest day was the day Eelam war ended with the Sri Lankan army wiping out Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an armed group struggling for a separate Tamil Eelam in the island nation.
Earlier, Muralidaran issued a detailed statement regarding his struggles in climbing up the ladder to become a global cricketer.“In 2019 I had said 2009 was the best year of my life. It was twisted to mean that I referred to the year when the Tamil genocide took place,” he wrote. Reiterating his stand on the civil war, the cricketer wondered whether it was wrong for someone to feel the relief at the end of the war. That statement was made, according to him, bearing in mind that no lives were lost in the past ten years.
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