Sri Lankan cricket legend Muttiah Muralitharan says Hindi and Tamil films enjoy a huge fan following in his home country and the craze for cinema comes in a close second to cricket in the island nation.
The legendary spinner also said he recently watched Tamil hits such as “Jailer”, “Leo” and Hindi movies “Jawan” and “Tiger 3”.
“In Sri Lanka, Hindi movies are famous because very few movies are made in Sri Lanka. They (Sri Lankan films) don’t have a lot of budget but they still run in theatres because people want to watch films in their own language. Both Hindi and Tamil movies are famous in Sri Lanka. Something for entertainment in Sri Lanka, cricket is a part, next one is the movies,” Muralitharan told PTI in a virtual interview.
Most of the people in Sri Lanka are Sinhalese, but they watch Hindi movies a lot, he added.
“A young person there can even speak Hindi because they have watched Hindi movies. Mostly there are Hindi movies, Hollywood movies are very few,” the 51-year-old former cricketer said.
Growing up, Muralitharan said as he spent most of his time living at a hostel, he would hardly get an opportunity to watch television.
“In those days, we had to go to a cinema hall. Earlier, the movies in Sri Lanka came months after the release. It’s only been in the last 10 years that films have been released in Sri Lanka (around the same time) as well,” he added.
Muralitharan’s biopic “800”, titled after the record number of wickets he took in Test cricket, will start streaming on JioCinema from December 2. The film is written and directed by MS Sripathy.
Asked about the response to the biographical drama in Sri Lanka upon its theatrical release in October, Muralitharan said the film did well back home.
“(It ran in theatres there for) More than a month. In India, a film only runs for 14 days or so. Some run for a week because too many movies come and they take (films) off and put (the new ones) there.