In a first, an Indian actor stepped down from a role over political backlash. Vijay Sethupathi will no longer be playing the role of Sri Lankan cricket legend Muttiah Muralitharan in his biopic.
The actor stepped down after backlash from Tamil Indians over the Sri Lankan civil war. Tamil Indians don’t look too fondly at Sri Lanka, who successfully defeated the Tamil Tigers’ uprising in the island nation a few years ago.
Therefore, when a Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi was cast as the Sri Lankan leg spinner, politicians seized at the opportunity for playing identity politics.
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Tamil politicians from the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) party in India accuse the legendary cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan, of betraying fellow Tamil Sri Lankans during the Lankan civil war that ended in 2009.
The war led the Tamil separatist movement to be defeated in Sri Lanka, thus retaining the rule of the majority Sinhalese.
India’s MDMK opposes Sri Lankan Sinhalese. The government is accused by the United Nations and international rights groups of killing at least 40,000 minority Tamil natives in its final campaign against the Tamil Tigers.
Soon enough many Tamil Indians joined in criticizing under the #ShameOnVijaySethupathi
Amid all the backlash even Muttiah Muralitharan asked the Indian Tamil actor to withdraw and save his career from the political row. Vijay shared his letter with a ‘thank you and goodbye’‘
“I don’t want one of the finest actors in Tamil Nadu to face any kind of trouble, hence I request him to drop out of the project, … There should be no obstacles for Sethupathi in the future because of this movie.”
நன்றி.. வணக்கம் 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/PMCPBDEgAC
— VijaySethupathi (@VijaySethuOffl) October 19, 2020
However many Tamil actors called this a loss for art and representation.
#muthaiyamuralitharan biopic &asking @VijaySethuOffl not to act😡do these people hav no work??why not ask @SunRisers why he is the head coach, team belongs to a Tamilian with political affiliations?VSP is an actor, and do not curb an actor. VSP&cricket both don’t warrant nonsense
— Radikaa Sarathkumar (@realradikaa) October 16, 2020
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Muralitharan’s biopic is titled 800, after the world record number of Test wickets the spinner took in his celebrated career. The 48-year-old retired from Test cricket in 2010 but is currently the bowling coach with Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Sunrisers Hyderabad.