Master is an action thriller written by Lokesh Kanagaraj, Pon Parthiban, Rathna Kumar, and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj. The film has Thalapathy Vijay in the lead role, Malavika Mohanan as the female lead and Vijay Sethupathi as the antagonist. It also has Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Arjun Das, Andrea Jeremiah, Nasser, Dheena and others in crucial supporting roles. The film has music by Anirudh, cinematography by Sathyan Sooryan and is produced by Xavier Britto under the banner XB Film creators.
During the audio launch of Master, Vijay Sethupathi had made a statement - he's the hero of the film. The logic he had to support this statement was that if he's the villain according to Vijay's perspective, then in his story Vijay is the villain. This is the biggest strength of Master. In other films the protagonist and the antagonist have unequal strengths, with the balance always tilting in the hero's favour. But here, Vijay Sethupathi matches Vijay in every punch, every kick, and also in terms of acting and screen presence.
The film's premise is pretty simple. An alcoholic professor has to go to a juvenile observation home to teach them good values and transform them. What he discovers there and how he solves the problem forms the rest of the plot. Now this is a film where you can't reveal even an iota of information about the story because it's filled with surprises throughout. A few of them turn out to be predictable but the way the film is presented makes up for it.
Director Lokesh not only impresses us with the making, but he serves a lot of unique Thalapathy moments on a large platter. Rather than presenting us the same trademark moments we've seen in previous films, he slightly modifies most of them and that makes the film refreshing. For example, the villain gets a hero introduction while the hero gets introduced 20 minutes into the film.
The writing is pretty neat, with special mention to the way the characters are sketched. JD (Vijay) is an alcoholic, and Bhavani (Vijay Sethupathi) is a cold blooded killer who does anything to achieve what he wants. When you exit the theatre, you are able to empathize with both of them equally. Lokesh and his team of writers also succeed in painting a realistic picture of life in prisons and how the society treats prisoners. All this in a non-preachy, sensitive way.
Speaking of the performances, Thalapathy Vijay has delivered one of his most expressive and moving performances in recent times. While we all know volumes about the talent that Vijay Sethupathi possesses, Arjun Das is a revelation as Das. If Kaithi gave him the much needed spotlight, Master will take him to the next level.
The film has a lot of Easter eggs and references to Hollywood songs, and also a few classic films such as Titanic, Premam etc. And all these are pretty much enjoyable. The only drawback is the slightly long second half, where the engagement takes a hit. However the brilliant action sequences, where the stunt master works in tandem with the editor (Philomin Raj) almost makes you forget all that. The fights are rooted to reality, at the same time, brimming with innovation, with the pre-climax fight in particular, conceived and executed brilliantly.
Most of Anirudh's songs end up as earworms, and their popularity before the release certainly helps the film's cause. The background score mixes beautifully with the film but then usage of silence in a few places could have made the experience better. The lighting during a lot of portions remind us of Lokesh's previous film Kaithi and it captures Vijay's charm beautifully.
Overall, Master lives up to the expectation and pre-release hype and Lokesh manages to give a hat-trick of films that are most certainly above par, and close to amazing. Master is indeed the mass-commercial entertainer that we've been waiting for, for almost an year.