Coimbatore: Dravidian outfit urges Vijay Sethupathi to give up Muttiah Muralitharan biopic

COIMBATORE: Members of a Dravidian outfit from Coimbatore have urged actor Vijay Sethupathi not to play the role of Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan in an upcoming film.
They said Muralitharan supported Sinhalese during the civil war and didn't speak up for Tamils, and Sethupathi portraying him would cause distress among Tamil people.
The call has come after the announcement that Sethupathi would don Muralitharan’s role in his upcoming biopic '800', directed by MS Sripathy.The title is a reference to the 800 wickets Muralitharan took in test matches.

On October 8, Sethupathi tweeted: "Honoured to be a part of this landmark project. Update soon #MuthiahMuralidaran #MuralidaranBiopic #MSSripathy #Vivekrangachari".
Following this, members of the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) in Coimbatore have called for the actor to give up portraying the cricketer, who supported Rajapaksa’s government which had killed innocent Tamils in the Sri Lankan civil war.
K Ramakrishnan, general secretary of TPDK told TOI that though Muralitharan was born in a Tamil family, he has always supported Rajapaksa and his Sinhalese majoritarian politics.
“When there was a genocide of Tamil people in the civil war, he did not speak out for them, but he supported the Sinhalese,” he said.
Ramakrishnan added that if Vijay Sethupathi, who has the goodwill of Tamil people across the world, dons Muralitharan’s role in the biopic, it would distress Tamils.
This cannot be justified by saying this was a cinema and it was Sethupathi’s job, he said and added that he should not support the Sri Lankan government in any form.
Among Tamil people, Sethupathi has an image of a humble humanist and a progressive thinker. He should not taint his own name by acting in this movie, he added.
"Even if Vijay Sethupathi follows Periyar’s ideas, TPDK would oppose if his movies are against Tamil sentiments. We ask him to give up this project. If he doesn’t do so, we would not let the movie be released,” Ramakrishnan said.