How do you become one of the world’s greatest cricketers? If you’re Muthiah Muralidaran, you develop your unique bowling style, one that most batters dread and even the gifted ones find hard to read. Result — you take a record-breaking 800 test wickets and 534 one-day wickets. The former Sri Lankan off-spinner built a golden career that will be remembered in the annals of history, and on the big screen.

On the occasion of Muralidaran’s 51st birthday today, director M S Sripathy has brought the first look of 800. The biopic borrows its title from the bowler’s record of taking the highest number of wickets in test cricket, one of his 16 world records.

Madhurr Mittal, best known for playing Salim in Slumdog Millionaire (2008), steps into the shoes of the player for the sports drama that will be released later this year in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Sripathy says the narrative will begin from Tamil Nadu, from where Muralidaran’s grandparents were sent to Sri Lanka by the British to work in tea plantations. To the director, the movie is a story of human courage. 

“800 is an inspiring story of a common man standing against all odds, who became a legend through his grit and determination. It captures the many faces of the cricketing icon from war-torn Sri Lanka, who became the greatest wicket-taker of all time. For those who know nothing of cricket, it is a poignant underdog tale. For those who have followed Murali’s turbulent career, it will show you the man behind the legend,” he states.

The biopic — shot in Chennai, Cochin, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and Australia — will span from 1977 to his test retirement in 2010. Mittal says it’s a huge responsibility to bring the story of the spinner, known for his doosra, to the screen.

He says, “We know Muralidaran sir as a cricketer, but there’s a lot in the film about him as a person, who has beaten the odds to emerge triumphant in life.”

Chennai: After days of pressure from fringe Tamil outfits and even sections of the film industry, actor Vijay Sethupathi on Monday said “it’s all over”, indicating that he will not play Muttiah Muralitharan in Sri Lankan cricketer’s biopic ‘800’.

Muralitharan in a statement on Monday asked the actor to withdraw from the film and to not jeopardize his career. “Nandri Vanakkam [thank you, farewell]”, tweeted the actor in response. “Nandri Vanakkam indicates that everything has come to an end. There is nothing more to talk about the film,” Sethupathi told reporters, after coming out of the residence of Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami. The actor had visited the CM’s residence to condole the death of EPS’s mother, who passed away last week. “It is all over. A full stop has been placed. There is nothing more to say,” Sethupathi said.

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Vijay Sethupathi pulled out of 800, the biopic on Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, on Monday. He announced his decision after Murali convinced him not to derail his career.

Several film personalities had urged Vijay to opt out, claiming the spinner had been against the Tamil Eelam (Independent Tamil state) during the civil war in the early ’80s and supported the Lankan government which reportedly committed genocide. Amid the raging controversy, Murali, himself a Sri Lankan Tamil, chose to clarify on Friday, saying the opposition to the movie stems from misunderstandings arising from the distortion of his statements in 2009, where he’d been quoted as saying it was the happiest year of his life. He claims he was misinterpreted and his comments should be considered from the perspective of an ordinary citizen caught in a war. “I see the Tamil people, the plantation workers, and Sinhala people as equals,” he asserted, adding that he’s never supported the killing of innocent Tamilians and was also a victim of the war.

He had earlier been reluctant to give the nod to the biopic but had consented, believing the world should know the contributions of those, including his parents, who had made him a cricketer. The M S Sripathy directorial was to kick off in early 2021.