Former cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has issued a statement on the huge controversy around the multi-lingual film '800'. The film, starring Vijay Sethupathi as Muralitharan, is a biopic on the cricketer. Several voices in Tamil Nadu politics and civil society have asked Vijay not to act in the movie. They are of the view that the cricketer supported the alleged genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils during the civil war in the country. The civil war came to an end in 2009 and it's believed that thousands of Tamils were massacred.

The cricketing legend on Friday said that his alleged pro-Rajapaksa statements made in the 2000s have been twisted. He spoke of his background and how he was born in a war zone and grew amid blood and gore.

"The film will talk about my struggles and my fight against them. It's not my fault that I was born a Sri Lankan Tamil. My political statements have been haunting me. I only said that I wanted peace," the legend said in a long Tamil-language statement.

Muralitharan added that he has been rendering services to Tamilians in Sri Lanka through his NGO, Foundation of Goodness.