We have often seen in biopics that adding a dash of fiction and cinematic flair to true-life tales, incidents, and figures is a common practice to attract audiences. What makes 800 the movie based on the life of former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan different is that it hasn’t taken any cinematic liberties and stays true to the incidents that happened in his life.
In an exclusive conversation with News18, Muralitharan says that he wanted the film to be completely authentic, “When you are making a biopic, you have to be honest to the audience. There will be many people whose feathers might ruffle, but I can’t make a biopic on my life as per their preferences. I always wanted to reveal the truth of what I achieved in cricket and the hardships that I faced to accomplish it with my country, family and myself.”
At the same time, he adds that there are certain incidents that have been left out, “The entire journey of my life form childhood to my retirement has been told in around 3 hours so we had to leave out a few things like the Tsunami incident that happened with me where I was almost going to be caught in the wave. So certain small episodes aren’t a part of the biopic but we have tried to include all major events of my life.”
Muralitharan, who is the only bowler in the history of cricket to take 800 says that he never thought that there would be a movie on his life, “My life is like a movie in itself, but I never thought of making a biopic (laughs). Initially, I was hesitant, but my manager convinced me. It was also because he thought that it would help awareness of my foundation which is involved in humanitarian work. The film was earlier supposed to be directed by Venkat Prabhu who is a friend of my wife (Madimalar Muralitharan) but he stepped away due to personal reasons. Then MS Sripathi decided to step in as a director and I think he has done a wonderful job.”
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