Vijay Sethupathi is no longer associated with Muttiah Muralitharan's biopic titled 800. The Super Deluxe actor was earlier roped in to essay the role of the former Sri Lankan player in his biopic, however, the announcement wasn't received as well as the makers had expected it to. Sethupathi was strongly criticised for playing the role of Muralitharan who was strongly criticised for not reacting against Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka. While the former cricketer had earlier issued a statement reacting to the ongoing controversy, Vijay Sethupathi too decided to take a call that he never wanted to take. 800: Muttiah Muralitharan's Biopic Makers Issue Statement after 'Shame on Vijay Sethupathi' Trends on Twitter.

Vijay announced his decision to quit the biopic by tweeting Muralitharan's statement on his social media handle. The actor shared his statement with a caption which when roughly translated to English reads 'Thank you and goodbye.' The actor was receiving severe backlash for his decision and he ultimately decided to exit the project to avoid any future repercussions.

Check Out His Tweet

Meanwhile, Muralitharan's statement read,  "I'm writing this due to the controversies surrounding the making of my biopic.

It came to my notice that many people have been pressing hard against Vijay Sethupathi to walk out of 800 the movie. Therefore, I do not wish to spoil the career of a reputed artiste of Tamil Nadu. Besides, I foresee the unnecessary obstacles that Vijay Sethupathi might face in the future. Hereby, I request Vijay Sethupathi to quit the film.

I have overstepped every obstacle in my career without losing my confidence. That's how I have reached where I am today. I thought that my biopic will inspire many youngsters. But it has come to a halt now. I believe the makers will definitely beat all the odds and bring this film to the audience. The announcement regarding the same will be out soon. I will unconditionally support the decision of the makers.

Hereby, I express my gratitude to press, media, friends, politicians, Tamil film artists, fans of Vijay Sethupathi and public that has stood by me throughout the issue."

It's now unclear if the makers will announce Vijay's replacement anytime soon or will they decide to put this project on a backburner for now. Stay tuned to this space as we'll return with an update very soon.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 19, 2020 04:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).