Muttiah Muralitharan biopic '800' controversy

  • The film 800 is the biopic on the legendary Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan.
  • The 800 number in the film title is a reference to the number of Test wickets that Muralitharan took in his career.
  • The movie is being produced by Movie Train Motion Pictures and Dar Motion Pictures.
  • Actor Vijay Sethupathy recently pulled out of starring as Murali in the biopic. 
  • It seems that he did this upon the advice of Murali himself, who said that he didn’t want the actor’s career to be tarred by the controversy.

MUTTIAH MURALITHARAN

  • Muralitharan's career started in 1992 and ended in 2010, in test cricket, and in 2011, in T20I and ODI. 
  • He holds the record of being the first, and currently the only, bowler to take 800 Test wickets. 
  • Muralitharan is a Sri Lankan Tamil who has roots in India.
  • His grandfather came from India to work in the tea plantations of Sri Lanka in 1920s.
  • Murali was born and brought up in Kandy, Sri Lanka
  • His wife is from Chennai.

THE OPPOSITION
  • Tamil nationalist sympathisers in the world of film and politics in Tamil Nadu publicly expressed their wish that Sethupathi should not act in the biopic as they believe Muralitharan, part of the minority Tamil community, was a ‘traitor’ to the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils.
  • Legendary Tamil film director Bharathiraja, known for his Tamil nationalist sympathies, wrote an open letter to Sethupathi.
  • He pleaded with him to drop out of the project. 
  • In the letter, Bharathiraja claimed that Muralitharan was a traitor of the Tamil race. 
WHY THE CONTROVERSY?
  • The controversy began to bubble on October 8, when actor Vijay Sethupathi, took to Twitter to announce the launch of 800, a biopic on Muralitharan. 
  • Several groups have branded Muralitharan as a “betrayer of Tamils”.
  • They allege that the cricketer supported the killing of Tamil civilians during the armed conflict between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. 
  • He had continuously faced accusations of not doing enough to help the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka, both during the civil war and in its aftermath. 
  • Tamil nationalists in Tamil Nadu see him as a collaborator because of his silence during the end stages of the bloody civil war in 2009 and because of his later support to the Rajapaksas.
  • In December 2019, Muralitharan hailed Gotabaya Rajapaksa as an efficient administrator.
  • He had also chided Tamil Nadu politicians for interfering in the affairs of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
THE DEFENCE
  • After the controversy over the biopic, Muralitharan put out an emotional statement saying he never justified the killing of innocent Tamils during the civil war.
  • He also listed several of his initiatives to help Eelam Tamils, arguing that he has probably done more for them than for his own community.
  • The producers of the film have also clarified that the film will not in any manner show the Eelam Tamils in a bad light.
SRI LANKA
  • Sinhalese constitute the largest ethnic group in the country, with 74.8% of the total population.
  • Sri Lankan Tamils are the second major ethnic group in the island, with a percentage of 11.2%. 
  • Moors comprise 9.2%. 
  • There are also small ethnic groups such as the Burghers (of mixed European descent) and Malays from Southeast Asia. 
  • Ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils, especially those of the upper-caste Vellalar communities, have through the years been accused of not considering estate Tamils as equals, given that estate Tamils were predominantly drawn from the lower castes in India.
SOURCES: IE, scroll.in, STUDYIQ, TH

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