Vijay Sethupathi will nail my bowling expressions in 800: Muttiah Muralitharan

"Vijay Sethupathi is a very talented actor and will nail the bowling expressions in my biopic 800," says former Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan.

800 is touted to be a moving portrayal of Muralitharan – one of cricket's most celebrated spinners. The film will be shot in Sri Lanka, UK, Australia and India. The shoot is slated to start at the beginning of 2021, with the film scheduled for release at the end of next year.

"Once the script was ready, we thought the best fit for this movie is non-other than Vijay Sethupathi," said Muralitharan while speaking on Star Sports show Cricket Live. "I trust Vijay completely as he is one of the greatest actors and I have complete faith that he'll definitely do wonders for the film."

Speaking about Muralitharan, Vijay Sethupathi said, "It's really nice to listen to his story and spend time with Murali sir. He is like a stamp, he makes a mark wherever he goes with his charming character and personality."

"I love his real-life because fans have seen him in matches on the field, but very few have got a chance to know Murali sir's personality off the field. He's very adorable and lovable. He's such a beautiful person and his story needs to be told," he added.

The film will be made primarily in Tamil. However, owing to Muralitharan and Sethupathi's popularity, the film will also be dubbed in all South Indian languages, as well as Hindi, Bengali and Sinhalese. An international version with English subtitles is also being planned.

Muralitharan is the only cricketer to have taken 800 wickets in Test cricket. Besides, he also picked up 534 and 13 wickets respectively in 350 ODIs and 12 T20Is.