Actor Vijay Sethupathi playing Muthiah Muralidaran in the Sri Lankan cricketer's upcoming biopic 800 has not gone down well with a section of Tamils who feel that Muralidaran's political affiliations in the Tamil-Sinhalese civil war does not warrant a Tamil actor portraying him on-screen. Pro-Tamil outfits and Tamil film industry celebrities have been appealing to Vijay Sethupathi to quit the movie, even after the makers of 800 released an official statement to ease the apprehensions.

Press Release! #800TheMovie pic.twitter.com/d0BMYETRi6

— Movie Train Motion Pictures (@MovieTrainMP) October 14, 2020

Now, two Tamil cine industry actors both of whom were born to Sri Lankan Tamil mothers have stated their respective opinions on the matter. Teejay Arunachalam, who is famous for playing villain in the Dhanush starrer Asuran was quoted by Times of India as revealing, 

 

“When I was in India, the makers of 800 had approached me. I met the filmmaker in his office, and he told me the bits and bobs of the script. I was approached to play the younger version of Muralidaran..

 

The war between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamils is depicted in the biopic and it did not sound right to me. My mother is an Eelam Tamil. There was a lot of cruelty involved in the war and I did not want to get involved in the politics of the film’s narrative. So, I eventually told them no.” 

Actress Radhika Sarathkumar on the other hand, whose mother Geetha Radha (wife of late actor MR Radha) is a Sri Lankan Tamil, took to twitter today to point out that when Muthiah Muralidaran can manage an IPL cricket team owned by the pro-Tamil Sun TV Network, why ask Vijay Sethupathi to quit a film based on him. 

#muthaiyamuralitharan biopic &asking @VijaySethuOffl not to act😡do these people hav no work??why not ask @SunRisers why he is the head coach, team belongs to a Tamilian with political affiliations?VSP is an actor, and do not curb an actor. VSP&cricket both don’t warrant nonsense

— Radikaa Sarathkumar (@realradikaa) October 16, 2020