Vijay Sethupathi signed on to play the role of legendary Sri Lankan off spinner Muttaiah Muralidharan the highest wicket taker ever in test cricket. The biopic titled '800' indicating Murali's test tally was announced with a first look poster.

Vijay Sethupathi had completely transformed into Muralidharan in the '800' poster winning praise for it from fans. However objections were raised by political parties and several senior film industry leaders that the actor should not portray the cricketer due to his alleged support of his country Prime Minister Rajapakshe and anti Tamil stand.

Vijay Sethupathi gave in to the pressure and opted out of '800' while Muralidharan asserted that he will go ahead and make his biopic with a replacement. It is now said that the team has approached international actor Dev Patel to play the role.

Dev Patel hit the limelight playing the lead role in the Oscar winning movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' directed by Danny Boyle. He has since turned in solid performances in several films including 'Hotel Mumbai', 'The Wedding Guest', 'The Personal History of David Copperfield', 'I Lost My Body' and 'The Green Knight'. He has completed his directorial debut 'Monkey Man' to be distributed worldwide by Netflix soon.