'My car crash eventually helped me to play Muralitharan convincingly': Madhur Mittal on essaying the cricket great in '800'
Actor Madhur Mittal, who is known for playing a key role in Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire, plays cricket great Muttiah Muralitharan in Indian film 800, a sports biography based on the Sri Lankan spin bowling legend. In a quick chat with IBNS correspondent Souvik Ghosh in Kolkata, Madhur opens up
Q. You were definitely aware of the controversy over Vijay Sethupathi's casting for the role previously.
A. I was aware that a huge star like Mr. Sethupathi was doing this film. But the controversy that happened was because of him being a Tamil and there was a political friction between some parts of Indian Tamils and Sri Lankan Tamils.
Madhur Mittal | Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS
Me being from the north of India, I was quite far away from it. I was really excited and sort of a little nervous over the responsibility of playing such a legend. It was all positive for me from the start. I wasn't too worried about the controversy.
Q. Did you take any training from Muttiah Muralitharan to play the role?
A. No, I didn't take any training from Murali sir because obviously he was a busy man. Moreover, he was coaching IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad and helping them with the game. So I didn't get a lot of time with him.
Q. So how did your training process pan out?
A. I started working three months after I got the film. So for those three months, I practised as much as I possibly could to get the action, look and all the other nuances, which are needed to be nailed to play a biopic properly, right. So we have tried our best and worked really hard. Now I hope the audience likes it.
Q. How did you manage to learn the bowling action?
A. I had a car crash around eight years ago. Due to the crash, I messed up my right elbow which actually helped me to replicate Murali sir's action (the spin bowling legend couldn't straighten his arm) more accurately. So a bad experience in my life eventually helped me to portray Murali sir's action a bit more realistically.
(From L to R) Madhur Mittal, Sourav Ganguly and Muttiah Muralitharan | Image by Avishek Mitra/IBNS
Q. Tell us about your upcoming projects.
A. Right now, I am fully focussed on 800. I also have a show waiting for release with Jackie Shroff and Sikandar Kher. Moreover, I am starting a film very soon. There are a bunch of things in the pipeline.
(Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.