Recently, the Sri-Lankan spin legend, Muttiah Muralitharan's biopic poster was revealed by the filmmakers and the titular role was to be helmed by one and only Vijay Sethupathi. But unfortunately, the film is in the middle of major controversy as pro-Tamil groups slammed the actor for doing the biopic. 'Shame on Vijay Sethupathi' was also trending on the micro-blogging site as the actor was all set to portray the role of spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan. Even Vijay's daughter also received a rape threat through a Twitter user identified as Rithik Raj, who has been booked under various Sections by the Tamil Nadu police who have taken action against him.

Due to several backlashes, Muttiah Muralitharan asked Vijay Sethupathi to step down from the project. Although nothing has been confirmed whether the film is going to be made with a different actor or not but for now, due to the huge controversy film shooting has been stopped. Well, Sethupathi's decision to play Muralitharan, who is believed to have supported the Lankan government during the civil war with the LTTE, has provoked the Tamilians.

Even though Muttiah Muralitharan himself always tried to explain his side, and argued the Tamilians that he never treated Eelam Tamils with disrespect citing his own Tamil origin. Well, personalities like Bharathiraja, Ameer, Thamarai and Cheran and even a state minister, Kadambur C Raju, had made statements urging Vijay Sethupathi to withdraw from the project considering the sentiments of Tamil people. All in all, the '800' motion poster revealed that the film was all set to cover the journey of Muralitharan's life from beginning to become a legend of cricket, but now, we have to wait and watch whether the makers are ready to go ahead with the project or not.