The trailer for Muttiah Muralitharan’s upcoming biopic ‘800’ was released on Tuesday and there were a lot of positive remarks. The biopic trailer essentially was an animated version of how Muttiah Muralitharan, considered the greatest bowler in the history of cricket, rose to prominence in the backdrop of turmoil in Sri Lankan society. From the Black July 1983 pogrom all the way to the no-ball incident involving Darrell Hair to surviving the 2009 Lahore terror attack, the journey of how Muttiah Muralitharan became a symbol of unity in Sri Lanka through cricket has been captured well.
The character of Muttiah Muralitharan is being played by Tamil superstar Vijay Sethupathi and his look onscreen bears a canny resemblance to Muttiah Muralitharan. However, after the release of the trailer, fans started trending #ShameonVijaySethupathi
The main grudge of the matter was that how could a Tamil movie superstar portray the role of a Sri Lankan cricket legend? Many people started quoting about the genocide of Tamils during the 2009 war and how Tamils have been subjected to humiliation in three decades in Sri Lanka. They also quoted the atrocities of the Sri Lankan army during the final assault in 2009 which resulted in the elimination of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) and their head Vellupillai Prabhakaran.
Fans support
However, there has been support as well for Vijay Sethupathi, arguing that all these claims are baseless. Some were saying that the entire Sun TV group must be boycotted as they are the partners in the Sunrisers Hyderabad team and that Muttiah Muralitharan is the bowling mentor of the team.
For many people who maybe unaware, Muttiah Muralitharan is an Overseas Citizen of India and he does not need a visa to enter the country. His bond with India has gotten deeper after getting married to Madhimalar Ramamurthy, a native of Chennai.
His grandfather, Periyasamy Sinasamy came from South India to work in the tea plantations of central Sri Lanka in 1920. He settled there for a long time and gave birth to Muralitharan’s father, Muttiah. Sinasamy then returned back to India where he settled down in Tiruchirapalli while Muttiah stayed back in Kandy to run a successful biscuit-making business.
In 2005, his India bond became deeper after he married Madhimalar Ramamurthy of Chennai. Madhimalar is the daughter of late Dr S. Ramamurthy of Malar Hospitals, and his wife Dr Nithya Ramamurthy. In 2006, the couple were blessed with their first child, Naren, in January.
In 2008/09, Muttiah Muralitharan came closing to playing Ranji Trophy cricket for Bengal in the Plate Division but it did not work out. In that year, the BCCI had framed a rule that each state association could sign four outstation players, including one from overseas, in their squads. However, one stipulation was that the overseas player should have played at least ten Tests or 20 ODIs.
Muttiah Muralitharan is considered the greatest bowler in the history of cricket, becoming the first player in history to take 800 wickets in Tests. In ODI, he is the leading wicket-taker with 534 wickets. He has the most five-wicket and 10-wicket hauls in Test history and he is only the second bowler after Shane Warne to take 1000 wickets in all formats combined.
