- Date of Release: 6 October 2023
- Genre: Drama, Biopic
- Language: Tamil
- Watch On: Jio Cinema
800
Introduction
It is a Tuesday but the biopics aren’t stopping! With that, I finished watching the new Tamil film 800 streaming on Jio Cinema which is the biopic of arguably the best off-spinner the game has ever produced – Muttiah Muralitharan. I am.a cricket fanatic and have been following the game ever since I was a child. The game has evolved over a period of time with the dynamics heavily hell-bent towards the batter, something that has taken the shine out of the game to an extent. With the T20s taking precedence, the ODI and Test formats have virtually taken a back seat, so much so that I do not end up watching all the matches ball by ball. But that wasn’t the case when I was growing up in the 90s, an era that marked my first brush with cricket.
I still remember watching the 1996 world cup with my grandfather and the excitement of the sport was at a totally different level. And that was primarily because there was an even contest between bat and ball, an era that had produced the best batters and bowlers, people that we still adore and respect today. And ask any 90s kid on who he dreaded the most from the Sri Lanka team from the day, then the answer would be a unanimous name, Muttiah Muralitharan. With more than 1300 International wickets to his name, and an unbreakable record of a staggering 800 Test wickets, the man is a legend of the game. Yet when you hear him talk, he is one of the most humble people outside the field which is the mark of a great human being. So when I did get to know about his biopic being made, naturally the cricket fan in me was interested. I missed out on watching 800 in a theatre near me when it was out, and I had laid my eyes on its OTT release. Finally the film made its way to the OTT platform Jio Cinema and I got my chance to watch 800. So then does 800 justify the struggles and celebrate the achievements of Murali, let’s find out.
Story & Screenplay
800 is the biopic on the champion cricket Muttiah Muralitharan who ended his Test career with a massive 800 wickets, thus being the first man on the planet to achieve this unbelievable feat. The story of Murali is inspiring given his struggles in the cricket world because of his action to eventually overcoming it, while also struggling with his identity in a war torn nation. But as is the case with biopics, the fragmented and cliched approach eventually led to the downfall of the drama. Yes, it isn’t easy to pack in all the events in a 150 minute runtime and that is always the challenge of the filmmaker who is venturing into a biopic. As a result, the drama here is extremely fragmented. I would have forgiven this aspect as well but the makers seemed to be in a mad rush, moving from one event to another rather than pausing and celebrating the achievements of a champion cricketer.
The drama begins with the onset of the test match between India and Srilanka that marked the final test match that Muralitharan is a part of. And he needs 8 wickets to reach the milestone of 800 wickets. The drama cuts to a flashback that gives a little glimpse of the origin of the sport in the nation followed by the protagonist slowly taking a liking for it. This, while his journey is detered by the geo-political situation in the country arisen out of a conflict between the Tamil refugees and the Sinhalese people, thus leading to a civil war. Now, I did wish this aspect of Murali’s struggle was touched upon a little more with better coherence as opposed to just brushing past the sequence of events.
I was hoping to witness a little of the struggle of Murali before he went on to achieve something unfathomable. And that aspect is explored in spurts and jerks. You are briefly introduced to the differentiation in the local team that the protagonist is subjected to while quickly moving on to the next event. A little bit of world building and characterisation was required to truly allow this biopic to blossom. Along the way, some crucial cricketing moments are touched upon including Srilanka lifting the world cup for the very first time to Murali held up for ‘chucking’ on the field, something that was overturned but a constant nemesis throughout his career. But I did wish that the writers celebrating some of his milestones along the way as well(given that the film is titled 800). You needed the viewers to stay in the moment while delaying the inevitable to truly care for the character in terms of his pain and glory.
I wished the writers had also focused on some of the off-field issues during the period of the nation grappling with LTTE, an event that was half-baked in the film and just about touched upon. The events leading up to the final act are weak given that such a massive milestone awaited the protagonist. The staging itself did not garner any goosebumps worthy moments, something that the biopic of MS Dhoni had, no matter how many times you would end up viewing ‘that’ six. The writing refused to slow things down and stay in the moment which was such a shame. Murali deserved better!
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are superficial and evoke no sentiment whatsoever. The BGM is weak and it flattens the drama further. It really ought to have been rousing to provide you goosebumps worthy moments. The cinematography is just plain bad. The cricketing shots are a joke often reduced to distant takes whereas in reality you needed to place frames at the centre of the action taking place. Even worse is the editing filled with umpteen number of jump cuts that reduced the biopic to a collection of sequence while further diluting the cricketing angle in the drama. Director MS Sripathy just doesn’t do enough service to the stardom of Muralitharan. In fact, he reduces the protagonist to a cardboard cutout while being mechanical with the flow of events instead of evoking emotions along the way. The direction misses the mark here.
Performances
There are so many characters used here but not one person stands out in totality, which was such a stark contrast to the film 83 wherein even the smallest of characters stood out. The casting was a huge issue too. Nasser and Narain are decent in their respective roles. Mahima Nambiar as Madhi is barely there in the film but still she does a decent job. Madhur Mittal had huge shoes to fill as Muttiah Muralitharan, particularly after Vijay Sethupathi had to opt out, and I feel he is decent but it wasn’t a performance that would ‘bowl’ me over! His action impersonating Murali was also a suspect and that didn’t quite sit well with me. All other characters struggle to impress too.
Conclusion
800 is a cliched and fragmented biopic of one of the legends of the game, Muttiah Muralitharan. And that is such a shame given that Murali deserved a better tribute! A missed opportunity indeed! Available on Jio Cinema.
