South Indian actor Vijay Sethupathi is being slammed for agreeing to play the main role in the upcoming biopic based on the life of Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan. The protests came from South Indian fans as well as various other groups. The criticism appears to be based on the previous armed conflict in Sri Lanka where the Tamil diaspora has alleged that the Sri Lankan government wilfully killed Tamil citizens in the North.
Members of a Dravidian outfit from Coimbatore have also urged the actor not to go ahead with the film claiming that Muralitharan supported the Sinhalese majority during the war and did not speak up for the Sri Lankan Tamils. They said the movie would upset Tamil sentiments.
Sethupathi is set to portray the recording breaking cricketer in the film titled ‘800’ directed by M.S Sripathy. ‘800’ is in reference to the 800 wickets taken by the cricketer during his career.
