Master is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and produced by S. Xavier Britto under XB Film Creators. The film stars Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi and Malavika Mohanan, with Andrea Jeremiah, Arjun Das, Shanthanu Bhagyaraj and Gouri G. Kishan in supporting roles. It is the first project of the production house, which also co-produced the film with Jagadish Palanisamy and Seven Screen Studio. The film follows an alcoholic college professor who takes a three-month teaching job at a juvenile home, and clashes with a ruthless gangster who uses the inmates as the scapegoat for his criminal activities.
Lokesh narrated the script to Vijay in May 2019, and after his acceptance, the film was launched in August 2019. Lokesh wrote the script, screenplay and dialogue with Rathna Kumar and Pon Parthiban being credited as co-writers. Principal photography commenced in October 2019 and ended in February 2020; the entire film was shot across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Karnataka within 129 working days. Originally announced under the tentative title Thalapathy 64, the official title Master was announced on 31 December 2019. The music is composed by Anirudh Ravichander, while cinematography and editing are performed by Sathyan Sooryan and Philomin Raj, respectively.
Master was initially planned for a theatrical release on 9 April 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The makers preferred to wait for a theatrical release, rather than release it on any streaming service. After being delayed for several months, the film was finally released in theatres on 13 January 2021, a day before Pongal. Master also became the fastest Tamil film to be available on a streaming service after its theatrical release; it premiered on Amazon Prime Video 16 days after its theatrical release on 29 January 2021.
Master received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. It was the first Indian film to have occupied the top spot in the global box office at the time of release. Irrespective of the film's fragmented theatrical release and its early streaming release, the film grossed around 220–300 crore. Many trade analysts and exhibitors praised the film's team for the revival of the theatrical business in Tamil Nadu, which suffered heavy losses due to the pandemic.
Plot In 2002 in Nagercoil, a timid 17-year-old Bhavani witnesses his family's murder by his father's rivals. They force him to take the blame, and they incarcerate him in a juvenile detention facility, where the staff torture him mercilessly. As a consequence, he develops a ruthless and violent persona. Years later, Bhavani is released from the facility and owns the lorry and trade business.
By 2019, Bhavani has become a feared gangster and remains immune from punishment by coercing the inmates of the detention facility to take the blame for his crimes. Creating an enormous syndicate for himself, he grows on par with his father's former rivals and eventually kills them brutally.
In Chennai, John Durairaj (J.D) is a college lecturer beloved by his students for his student-friendly approach. He struggles with alcoholism and bitter dislike from fellow staff. Charulatha, aka Charu, a newly hired lecturer at his college, is the only one who commiserates with him. J.D. decides to hold an election at the school on a bet with the college principal and if the election fails, they will dismiss him from the college. Despite a successful initial election, displeased goons attacked the school. Following the botched election, the chairman assigns him to a juvenile detention facility for a 3-month assignment he does not recall volunteering for. J.D. reluctantly assumes his new position. The prison authorities warn him of the rampant drug abuse and violence there. However, he pays no heed to their warnings.
Sabari and Manikandan, two brothers, are supposed to surrender for one of Bhavani's murders. They slip a note to an unaware J.D., who is drunk. Bhavani kills them, and he and the inmates discover their bodies hanging from the ceiling of the detention centre classroom the next day. The police detain J.D. for the murders, and Charu, an NGO worker, admonishes him for his negligence. While in detention, J.D. discovers the brothers' note detailing the horrific activities in the detention centre. Heartbroken, J.D. clobbers Bhavani's goons sent to kill him. He calls Bhavani and promises to pay for the boys' deaths. After quitting drinking, J.D. gains control over the institution and begins to reform the inmates. However, Das, an older inmate responsible for controlling the younger children, opposes him. With the help of Undiyal, J.D. discovers that Bhavani regularly makes inmates take the blame for his heinous crimes. He records a video of younger inmates, including Undiyal, discussing Das's crimes in the facility. Bhavani's goons target Charu and retrieve the film, sparing her only because of Undiyal's timely intervention. Undiyal reveals that select inmates are tattooed with the Tamil letter 'ப' (Pa), allowing them to access free food and drugs in exchange for surrendering for Bhavani's crimes.
J.D. raids various establishments and cuts off the drug supply to the detention facility, causing frustration to Bhavani. He sneaks into Bhavani's hideout and threatens him and his men with severe consequences while unknowingly holding Bhavani at knifepoint using a ball pen. Bhavani retaliates by killing J.D.'s batchmate, Prem and ex-student, Bhargav, in two separate lorry accidents. With J.D. incapacitated by grief, Das abducts most of the inmates, intending to take them out of Tamil Nadu along with Bhavani's Benami documents. With the help of archer Vanathi, J.D. defeats Das's men and rescues the children. He confronts Das, and J.D. reveals he is the link between Bhavani and the crimes in the detention facility. Das reforms and transports J.D. and the children to Bhavani's meatpacking plant.
Bhavani's goons escort Das to a room to kill him, but he overpowers the men sent to kill him while J.D. confronts Bhavani. J.D. defeats Bhavani by damaging Bhavani's right hand with his bangle. Bhavani later urges J.D. to join him in politics, but J.D. kills him, avenging Sabari's and Manikandan's deaths. With the children safe, J.D. and Das surrender to the police. The government shuts down the detention facility and sends inmates to other detention facilities and state prisons based on age. The government sends J.D., Das, and the other adults from the facility to another prison, where they intend to reform the inmates.
Cast
Director Lokesh Kanagaraj and co-writer Rathna Kumar made cameo appearances as prisoners during the end credits.
Production
Development
In March 2019, sources claimed that after Bigil (2019), Vijay will be working with Mohan Raja's next film. However, in May 2019, it was also announced that he will be working with Lokesh Kanagaraj for his 64th venture, which will be produced by Xavier Britto. Britto who is a relative of Vijay, produced three films for the actor, Senthoorapandi (1993), Rasigan (1994) and Deva (1995), all of which were directed by Vijay's father S. A. Chandrasekhar. On 22 May 2019, it was reported that Vijay gave a call sheet for 120 days. An official announcement was made on 24 August 2019, by producer Britto, under his newly launched production banner XB Film Creators. Lalit Kumar of Seven Screen Studio co-produced the film, along with Vijay's manager Jagadish Palaniswamy. Along with the news, he revealed some of the crew that will work on the film, with Anirudh Ravichander being announced as the music director and Silva for stunt choreography. Sathyan Sooryan and Philomin Raj were retained as the cinematographer and editor respectively for this film, after previously collaborated on the director's Kaithi. Originally launched under the tentative title Thalapathy 64, the official title Master was announced on 31 December 2019 (New Year's Eve).
Casting In September 2019, Vijay Sethupathi was announced to be portraying the antagonist. The following October, Malavika Mohanan was announced as the lead actress. The cast additions included Shanthanu Bhagyaraj and Antony Varghese, with the latter making his Tamil debut. Varghese later left the project, citing scheduling conflicts and was later replaced by Arjun Das, who was a part of Lokesh's previous venture, Kaithi. Andrea Jeremiah also signed to be a part of the film in October 2019, followed by Brigida Saga and Gouri G. Kishan. Ramya Subramanian also joined the film's second schedule. The film's cast additions also included, Nassar, Sanjeev, Sriman, Srinath, Prem, Nagendra Prasad, Mahendran amongst others. Raveena Ravi dubbed Malavika Mohanan's voice. Actor Kathir's father made his acting debut with this film. In January 2021, it was reported that Nani and Madhavan were approached for playing the antagonist before Sethupathi was finalised. Surekha Vani also filmed scenes, but those were not included in the final cut.
Filming
Principal photography began with a pooja ceremony on 3 October 2019; the film's cast and crew were present at the event. On 4 October, Rathna Kumar posted on Twitter that he was co-writing the screenplay for this project along with Lokesh. Pon Parthiban, who previously collaborated with Kanagaraj in Kaithi, was signed to co-write the screenplay with Kanagaraj and Kumar. The film's first schedule took place in Chennai for 15 days. Post the completion of the first schedule, the film's team planned for a 20-day schedule in Delhi. Vijay and the film's crew members went to Delhi for the second schedule in November 2019. Stills from the film's shooting spot at Shri Ram College of Commerce in the North Campus, where a song sequence is being filmed, which found its way to the internet, went viral. The film's shoot briefly delayed due to pollution in Delhi. After few pictures from the film's shooting spots were leaked, the team proceeded to have the images removed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The crew went to film few important scenes, featuring Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi at Shimoga district in Karnataka after the Delhi schedule being completed. However, the makers planned to shoot few scenes in Chennai, before the schedule. Shanthanu and Sethupathi went to Shimoga in December 2019. Art director Satheesh Kumar, stated in an interview, that more than 15 sets were made on the film's shoot, with one of them being the Metro train sets, which is being used for the first time in Tamil cinema. The makers went to film fight scenes featuring Sethupathi and Vijay at the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC). However the film's shoot was interrupted twice, when Vijay was summoned by the Income tax officials on 5 February, about potential tax evasion, and later on 7 February, when members of Bharatiya Janata Party, protested in front of the NLC. The film's shooting wrapped in February 2020, within 129 working days. For their roles in the film, both Vijay and Jeremiah underwent archery training. A portion of the sequence featuring Lokesh and Rathna Kumar appearing in the end credits of the film, was directed by Vijay, which was the first attempt in direction in his career.
Post-production The film's post-production works which began in March 2020, soon after the completion of the film's shoot was halted due to the COVID-19 lockdown in India. After the Tamil Nadu government granted permission to resume post-production activities in May 2020, Master became one of the few films to resume works. The team reported that most of the film's works including dubbing were completed before the lockdown, except for the editing works which was resumed on 11 May 2020. Composer Anirudh Ravichander, took to Twitter stating that he started his works on the film's background score.