Muttiah Muralitharan biopic 800: Slumdog Millionaire actor Madhurr Mittal replaces Viay Sethupathi, first look revealed

On Monday, cricket legend Muttiah Muralitharan turned 51. And on this occasion, the first look of his long-awaited biopic was finally unvelied, with an all new leading actor. The film, titled 800, now stars Madhurr Mittal, best known for his performance as a child actor in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire. The film was earlier supposed to star Vijay Sethupathi and a first look had also been unveiled.

800 is written and directed by MS Sripathy. The makers of the film unveiled a first look poster of Madhurr as Murali, wherein he is seen staring at the camera with a cricket ground in the background and a shadow of broken stumps on his face. The film will release in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. Madhurr Mittal, the film’s new lead star, most notably played Salim in Slumdog Millionaire, and has since appeared in films like Maatr and Pocket Gangsters. He will be soon seen in Ajay Devgn’s Maidaan as well.

800 was earlier slated to star Vijay Sethupathi in the lead role. In 2020, a first look poster of Vijay as Murali was released, where fans had praised how the actor had transformed into the legendary cricketer. However, the actor also received backlash for taking up the film about a Sri Lankan cricketer while the country has had a bad track record in its treatment of the Tamil minorities.

In October 2020, Vijay Sethupathi left the project due to the protests. Muttiah Muralitharan had issued a statement urging the actor to opt out of it. “I understand that Vijay Sethupathi is facing a lot of pressure from a few people. I do not want a celebrated actor like him facing trouble because of people who misunderstood me. I do not want Vijay Sethupathi to face any problem in future. Hence, I am asking him to opt out of this biopic,” the cricketer wrote. The actor shared the statement on his social media with a folded hands emoji.

The film’s title refers to the 800 Test wickets Murali took in his career (a world record). The cricketer is widely regarded as one of the greatest spinners in the history of the game and arguably the greatest cricketer to emerge from Sri Lanka. He represented the national team in 133 Tests, 350 one-day internationals, and 12 Twenty20 internationals in a career that spanned from 1992-2011. With 1347 international wickets, Murali is the most prolific wicket-taker in international cricket history.