A total of 1,347 international wickets, more than any cricketer in history. A career that was almost nipped in the bud because his unconventional bowling action was deemed illegal. A life that has made a superstar out of a Sri Lankan Tamil whose own country had once questioned his patriotism. The story of Muttiah Muralitharan is nothing short of pure cinema. On October 6, Murali’s story will be part of actual cinema, when his biopic, 800, releases in theatres. Ahead of what is one of the most-anticipated sports films of the year, the Sri Lankan wizard was in Kolkata on September 28, hobnobbing with his fans as well as Sourav Ganguly.
Muralitharan’s first stop on a sultry Thursday morning was Saltlake Shiksha Niketan school, where he was present alongside Madhur Mittal, of Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Maatr (2017) fame, who plays Muralitharan on screen. Greeted with the sounds of a conch and flowers by the students of Shiksha Niketan, Muralitharan walked straight onto the school field with a ball in hand, his eyes as intense as ever.
Muralitharan bowls an over to a young batter
Muralitharan and Madhur Mittal pose with the students of Shiksha Niketan Media Connect
One lucky youngster got the chance to face cricket’s most successful spinner, as Muralitharan bowled an over of juicy off-breaks to the student (no doosra for him, sadly). The rest of the students and teachers stood at the edge of the pitch looking for the best view of a special moment. Muralitharan showed his humility by asking everyone to take a few steps in case the youngster managed to smash him. To his credit, the batter was unfazed and did a fantastic job of blocking out the over without seeing his stumps rattled.
Soon afterwards, one of the students came up to Mittal to ask for an autograph on his red ball, prompting the actor to say that “it’d be best to get Murali sir to sign it. I’m just playing his role. He’s the real deal.”
A song and dance performance was next, with Muralitharan subsequently taking the mic to talk about his biopic, which is directed by M.S. Sripathy. Describing the film as “a tale of hardships that flowered into success”, Muralitharan posed for a seemingly endless photo session, including a selfie with the entire school auditorium. True to nature, Muralitharan, of course, had the widest smile!
It’s unfortunate he didn’t get to win a World Cup, but his contribution to Indian cricket has been immense: Murali on Dada
Sourav Ganugly joined Muralitharan for a banter-laden chat at the Oberoi Grand Amit Pramanik
Thereafter, the 800 party landed up at the ballroom of the Oberoi Grand for lunch before a press conference, where one of Muralitharan’s most accomplished opponents, Sourav Ganguly, made an unexpected appearance. Rocking a black polo shirt, Ganguly described Muralitharan as “someone who’s not just a Sri Lankan, but a man of the world”. Muralitharan, in turn, thanked the “King of Kolkata” for his warmth and hospitality.
In the banter-laden conversation that followed, Muralitharan said it was always hard to get Dada out once he was set, recalling Ganguly’s mammoth knock of 183 against Sri Lanka at Taunton during the 1999 World Cup. “When he (Ganguly) became captain, he built a team from scratch and when the captaincy changed hands, you could see what Dada had set in motion, passing on established players (referring to the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh). It’s unfortunate he didn’t get to win a World Cup, but his contribution to Indian cricket has been immense. Beyond playing, he went on to become the president of the biggest cricketing board and to do that isn’t easy,” added Muralitharan.
The former Indian captain repaid the compliment by saying: “I’ve faced young Murali, old Murali and an even older Murali. The older he got, the more difficult it became to face him. I grew up playing cricket with a very strong Indian setup, we had a very good team. But for Sri Lanka, it was always Murali. Sri Lanka produced some great cricketers, but when we faced them, it always felt like Murali is Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka is Murali. He wasn’t just the backbone of the team, he was every bone.”
‘I never thought I’d have a movie about me…It’s been a difficult journey’
Ganguly proceeded to talk about Murali’s never-ending smile and the amazing human being the latter is off the field, before saying that “I’m looking forward to watching his movie. I’ve seen him over a long period of time and I’ve been very good friends with him. It will be exciting to see his story on the big screen”.
“I never thought I’d have a movie about me. But things change. It’s been a difficult journey, it’s taken five years to get this movie ready, I was really nervous about it, but now that it’s happening, I’m really happy,” said Muralitharan, whose most important piece of advice for Mittal was: “Don’t mimic me.”
To conclude proceedings, My Kolkata asked Muralitharan which of his 800 Test wickets was his favourite.The smiling assassin of world cricket replied with characteristic charm: “No favourites. I liked every wicket I took. That’s why I got so many!”
