‘800’ Speaks of a Universal Emotion

The biopic of the legendary Sri Lankan bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, titled 800, will be released on 1100 screens in India on October 6. To be released in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi, the film has marshalled the support of some of the most respected names in the distribution sector. Nizam’s Suniel Narang, Vizag-Uttarandhra’s Dil Raju, UFO, Annapurna Studios, and Geetha Film Distributors are some of the names distributing the film.

Sivalenka Krishna Prasad, who took over the project in August, was the first mover. His taste has been trusted by his Telugu film industry colleagues. “The film is up for a grand release. I am concerned with the Indian release alone. Internationally, it is being done by Lyca Productions. I am more than happy with all this. ‘800’ deserves a large audience, considering that cricket is an inspirational game. And the crisis faced by Muralidaran and how he defeated them needs to be known by youngsters,” Krishna Prasad says.

Madhur Mittal, renowned for his role in Slumdog Millionaire, takes on the lead role in this movie. Director MS Sripathy’s vision has always been trusted by Krishna Prasad. “In fact, my next film will be directed by him. He kept me informed about ‘800’ since it was conceived and started to be written,” he says, adding that he will also be doing films with Pavan Sadineni, his ‘Yashoda’ directors and others.

‘800’ was shot in some cricket stadiums. Crowd shots have been given VFX touches but realistic shots have been given the primacy.