Indian star Vijay Sethupathi to play Muttiah Muralitharan in biopic

Indian star  Vijay Sethupathi to play Muttiah Muralitharan in biopic

Vijay Sethupathi will soon be seen in the biopic of Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan. The film is being produced by 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.  He is the only cricketer to have taken 800 wickets in Tests, comfortably ahead of Australia legspinner 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. Considered 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.

Talking about the project, Vijay said, “I am happy to be associated with the Muttiah Muralitharan biopic. He is an iconic sportsman of Tamil origin and someone who has made his mark across the world. Portraying the role of Murali is going to be a challenge for me and I am looking forward to it.”

He added, “I am delighted that Murali himself will be closely involved with the project and guiding me on the cricketing aspects. I am thankful to both Murali and the producers for the faith bestowed on me.”

Muttiah Muralitharan is quite happy with Vijay Sethupathi’s casting in the film. “I am honoured that an accomplished actor such as Vijay Sethupathi will be playing me in the film. I have been actively collaborating with the creative team for the past several months and I will continue to support this project through its duration,” he said.

The biopic will be written and directed by MS Sripathy. The film will be shot in Tamil but the producers have plans to release in several languages across the world.The Muttiah Muralitharan biopic is expected to hit the screens in late 2020.