Master is a Tamil language action thriller film co-written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, who also directed the blockbuster film Kaithi (2019).
The film revolves around JD (Thalapathy Vijay), a popular college professor beloved by his students for his student-friendly approach, but is struggling with the problem of alcoholism due to some unexplained past events. On the other hand, the film also builds the character of Bhavani (Sethupathi Vijay), brought up in a juvenile detention facility, a nefarious gangster, who is on the revenge path to take back the territory that once belonged to his father. At the start of the film, it starts building these two compelling characters parallelly in totally different worlds, and it leaves us guessing that how they possibly going to clash. But Not so long into the film, the series of events makes JD take a three-month teaching job in a juvenile home, which is controlled by the Bhavani.
Previously, the impression of south Indian films for me was like films with over-the-top action with loud characters and a lot of masala for pleasing the mass. Maybe, it is because of all those Hindi dubbed films that air every day on the TV channels. But, there is a totally different set of films that stand out from those films. Drishyam (2013), Kaithi (2019), Super Deluxe (2019), & Jallikattu (2019), etc. are such gems. This film also can be called a masala entertainer with star power, but it does stand out in its storytelling. Both the leads give great performances and keep the film engaging till the end. Even all the supporting characters do their part well. The direction, screenplay, and BGM of the film are also worth appreciating. The film has a few songs but those are so enjoyable & stick to the story and never get out of the flow.
I just had two issues with the film, one is its 3 hours of runtime, and another is it’s a bit underwhelming climax than expected. I mean, the film takes so much time to build these two powerful characters, and in the end, their final face-off isn’t that fulfilling.
Verdict : The film is a complete entertainer with a gripping story, BGM, and compelling performances.
Rating : 3.9/5
Check the trailer here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_iUFT3nWHk