‘Makkal Chelvan’ Vijay Sethupathi recently made an announcement on his upcoming movie ‘800,’ a biography of the Sri Lankan spin legend, cricketer Muttiah Muralidaran. The motion poster of the film was released on Tuesday, October 12th, 2020.
Since then, the well-known actor has been facing online outrage, though he has received a lot of acclaim for adapting an identical look to Muralidaran. He has received public backlash mainly from Tamilians who say that it would be unreasonable for Sethupathi to represent a country that has a background of ‘oppressing Tamilians.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8YhTenIqNw
#ShameOnVijaySethupathi started trending on Twitter. Tamilians also mocked Sethupathi stating he was ‘unethical‘ and ‘ungrateful‘ to the Tamil people who honoured him as ‘Makkal Chelvan.’
https://twitter.com/PradhaShree/status/1316085129656197120?s=20
#ShameOnVijaySethupathi @VijaySethuOffl sir we have a huge respect on you, plz don’t act as a Sri Lankan cricketer we have a lot of legends plz act like them 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳
— Siva Ravindran (@siva_ravindran) October 14, 2020
Why a North Indian Company is interested to produce a singhala writer's movie!?
Why a singhala writer wants to write & make a Tamil movie!?
All of this, is for the purification of singhala genocidal criminals & @VijaySethuOffl wants to take a lead.💦#ShameOnVijaySethupathi
— தமிழன் (@sathyatamilan01) October 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/Chithiran_twitz/status/1316229927637716992?s=20
Yet, there are still fans who adore Sethupathi’s work and profession. They also admired in awe and had much praise on his identical looks to the legendary cricketeer. Hence, these fans are using #WeStandWithVijaySethupathi to show their support for Sethupathi.
Lets leave all the politics aside and celebrate a cricketing legend who won the hearts of the world and be proud of him being a sri lankan who played cricket in our soil. Im personally proud that he is from our Kandy…
— NISHAMANI FERNANDO 🇱🇰💯 (@NishamaniF) October 9, 2020
https://twitter.com/sunny_nolancr7/status/1316277237239300096?s=20
https://twitter.com/VSPTrends/status/1316257721532911617?s=20
Dear friends,
It's just a story of a big cricketer….. Don't make this serious🙂
Just enjoy the movie..👍👍#WeStandWithVijaySethupathi pic.twitter.com/TMvOMUdZIh
— 🤴†ωεε†εr hαrïšh💂♀️ (@SKHarishbabu) October 14, 2020
According to the official synopsis, 800 is a fast-paced and humorous biopic, and will be a touching depiction of one of cricket’s most talented and controversial personalities, and a narrative of ethnicity and pride.
The film will be filmed in Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, Australia and India. The filming will begin at the beginning of 2021 and the will be released at the end of 2021.
The film will be made predominantly in Tamil, and will also be dubbed in all the South Indian languages, as well as in Hindi, Bengali and Sinhalese. An international edition with English subtitles is also expected.
Source: The Hindu & The Week
