Madhur Mittal was wary of not mimicking Muttiah Muralitharan in biopic 800: 'You end up making a mockery...' | Exclusive

Muttiah Muralitharan’s biopic 800 finally hit the screens earlier this year. The film stars actor Madhur Mittal as the cricket legend along with an ensemble cast. As 800 now makes its OTT debut on JioCinema, Madhur speaks to us about taking on the role and his biggest challenges.

When 800 was first conceptualised, director MS Sripathy had cast Vijay Sethupathi in the lead role. Eventually, after criticism from Tamil activists, the actor left the project and Madhur took over the role. Talking about it, he says, “It was daunting but I took it as a role, not like replacing an accomplished actor. The role was challenging on its own and I decided to focus on doing my best in bringing that to life.”

Madhur says that he found it hard to strike a balance between looking authentic and not mimicking Murali. “We had the obvious challenge of getting the look and the action right because this is the biopic of an absolute legend. He is so familiar that anyone who has ever seen cricket in the last 30 years knows exactly what Murali sir’s action looks like, how he is on the field. But the real challenge is to make sure you don’t end up making it the lowest common denominator, getting stuck in the mimicry of it all and ending up being a gimmick. Through that you end up making a mockery out of such a legend. We wanted to make sure that the story and emotions don’t get lost,” he explains.

The Tamil language sports drama also stars Mahima Nambiar, Narain, King Ratnam, and Nassar in pivotal roles. The film was released in theatres on October 6 where it received mixed to positive reviews with praise for Madhur’s performance. It is now streaming on JioCinema for free.