Vijay Sethupathi has signed up to portray a famous Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan in a biopic directed by MS Sripathy. Ever since the motion poster of Vijay Sethupathi's upcoming movie '800' was launched, Makkal Selvan is facing wrath on social media. '800' is a biopic of Muttiah Muralitharan, titled after his 800 wickets record in Test cricket. A few days back, Vijay's first look from the movie was unveiled and soon, netizens started trending #ShameOnVijaySethupathi and asked him to back out of the project.

Fans are upset that the actor took up the role of the Tamil-origin cricketer who never spoke out against the alleged atrocities that the Sri Lankan government is said to have inflicted on the country's Tamil population in the past.

Many took objection to was Sethupathi wearing the Sri Lankan flag on his chest for the film, which is being produced by Movie Train Motion Picture and Dar Motion Pictures and directed by M S Sripathy.

Fans recalled the tragic events of the civil war that rocked Sri Lanka in the past and resulted in the deaths of thousands of Tamilians. Even director Seenu Ramasamy voiced out his concern and requested the actor to reconsider the role.

The makers of the film, in their statement, stated that they are not hurting anyone's sentiments as the movie is based on his cricketing career. "‘800’, is being politicized in many ways. However, we want to clarify that 800 is purely a sports biography film about the legendary cricketer Muthiah Muralitharan. The film is a journey about a man who hails from the Tamil migrant community, going on to become the highest wicket-taker of all time. The film does not make any political statement favouring any community," read the statement of 800's makers.

After the social media trend, veteran director Bharathiraja also wrote to Vijay Sethupathi asking him not to act in the biopic of Srilankan cricketer. The director claimed that Muthaiah Muralidharan had turned a "blind eye" when the "Tamil genocide" was being carried out in Sri Lanka.

Lyricist Kavignar Thamari said that she would try to persuade Sethupathi to give up the project and many other activists saw a deep conspiracy behind the making of the film itself.

Will Vijay Sethupathi opt-out from the project after all this backslash he is facing? But the actor had been quite upbeat about the film and even said, "I am delighted that Muralidaran himself will be closely involved with the project and guiding me on the cricket aspects," which suggested that Muralidaran was very much associated with the making of the film.