"Life In Danger": Tamil Director Amid Muttiah Muralitharan Biopic Row

Well-known Tamil film director R Seenu Ramasamy has tweeted that his life is in danger and has sought help from Chief Minister E Palaniswami. "I feel my life is in danger. Chief Minister Sir should help. Urgent," he tweeted. The director says he started getting threatening calls and messages after he appealed to popular actor Vijay Sethupathi to opt out of the biopic on Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan.

"Just like many others, I too had recently appealed to actor Vijay Sethupathi to opt out of the film '800'. Just like his daughter, I too received threat messages. They abused me using unprintable words. I am unable to open my WhatsApp," he said.

The daughter of actor Vijay Sethupathi, who exited from the biopic on Muttiah Muralitharan following opposition to his involvement in the project, had received a rape threat on Twitter last week.

Mr Sethupathi decided to opt out of the film following an appeal by the Lankan cricketer himself amid pressure from pro-Tamil groups as well as political parties.

Calling Mr Muralitharan a traitor and accusing him of supporting the killing of Lankan Tamils, veteran film director Bharathiraja, PMK chief Dr P Ramadoss and at least two ministers put pressure on Mr Sethupathi to leave the film. Some also had claimed that Mr Muralitharan had made celebratory statements on the killing of Lankan Tamils, leading to the end of the war in Sri Lanka in 2009.

The cricketer had denied the allegations and claimed that his statement on the end of the war was twisted. He later appealed to Mr Sethupathi to opt out of the project.

The cricketer explained: "I know the pain of war. I grew up in Sri Lanka amid war for over 30 years. My father was hacked when I was seven. Many times we were on the street."

He said he never "supported killing of Tamils " and that his quotes referring to "the end of loss of lives on both sides" are being manipulated.

Seenu Ramasamy rules out fans of Vijay Sethupathi as being behind the alleged threats. "Someone is trying to drive a wedge between Sethupathi and me. I feel so scared to even walk on the road," he said.

A senior police officer in Chennai told NDTV, "We are investigating."

"We are deploying security to the director," another officer said.

Seenu Ramasamy has directed many films including the award winning Thenmerku Paruvakaatru which had Vijay Sethupathi in the lead role.