Chennai: The Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi will be portraying Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan’s soon-to-be released biopic ‘800’. The movie will be directed by MS Sripathy and produced by Movie Train Motion Pictures and Dar Motion Pictures. The biopic is named as 800 because it is a tribute to the number of wickets he has taken in Test cricket.
In a tweet, the noted film critic Taran Adarsh posted, “its official, Vijay Sethupathi to star in cricketer Muthiah Muralidaran biopic, Directed by MS Sripathy, Produced by movie train motion pictures and Dar motion pictures.” Muttiah muralitharan is considered one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket and the biopic’s name ‘800’ is a tribute to the number of wickets he has taken in test cricket.
IT'S OFFICIAL… #VijaySethupathi to star in cricketer #MuthiahMuralidaran biopic… Directed by #MSSripathy… Produced by Movie Train Motion Pictures and Dar Motion Pictures. #MuralidaranBiopic pic.twitter.com/0KeCPzk6im
— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) October 8, 2020
Muttiah Muralitharan is the only bowler in the cricket arena to have made a record of taking 800 wickets in Tests, comfortably ahead of Australia leg spinner Shane Warne, who has taken 708 wickets. Vijay Sethupathi, who is known as ‘Makkal Selvan’ to his legion of fans in the Tamil film industry, will reprise his role. The most versatile actor in the Tamil film industry, Sethupathi gained fame in the 2016 police action thriller Sethupathi while his popularity went up a notch in the 2016 film Dharma Durai.
It was speculated that Vijay Sethupathi has been taking lessons from Muttiah Muralitharan some time back. Earlier, he also expressed his happiness over his association with the iconic bowler. However the cast and crew is yet not announced for the biopic apart from the confirmation of Vijay Sethupathi as the main lead.
The well-known bowler Muttiah Muralitharan started his cricketing career in 1992 and in the course of 18 years, he is the only bowler to top the ODI and Test bowling charts with 534 and 800 wickets respectively. He has the most five-wicket and 10-wicket hauls in Tests by any bowler. Muralitharan took his 800th wicket when he dismissed Pragyan Ojha in the Galle Test of 2010 and immediately after that, he announced his retirement from Tests. Muttiah Muralitharan played for Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore while currently; he is the bowling mentor for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.