Master (2021) Review: Vijay vs Vijay Sethupathi

Is Master worth watching?

Yes, with reservations. Master is worth it for the collision of two very different Tamil stars, Vijay’s swaggering hero and Vijay Sethupathi’s chillingly calm villain, even if the film around them is overlong and uneven. Lokesh Kanagaraj stages several rousing set pieces, and Anirudh Ravichander’s score gives the action a constant charge. The problem is that the story only truly catches fire when its two leads share the screen, and at close to three hours, it spends too long waiting for that.

What is Master about?

Master follows JD (Vijay), a popular but hard-drinking college professor whose unorthodox ways keep getting him into trouble. After one scandal too many, he is sent to teach at a juvenile correctional school. There he discovers that the boys are being used by Bhavani (Vijay Sethupathi), a ruthless gangster who has grown powerful by turning vulnerable children into his foot soldiers. JD’s fight to protect his students turns into a personal war with Bhavani.

Malavika Mohanan, Arjun Das, Andrea Jeremiah, Nassar and Shanthanu Bhagyaraj round out the cast. Lokesh Kanagaraj directs this Tamil-language Indian film, which runs 179 minutes. Released in January 2021, it became one of the first big theatrical events in India after pandemic closures.

A villain who owns the film

Vijay Sethupathi’s Bhavani is the film’s great asset. The prologue that introduces him, showing how a brutalised boy becomes a hardened criminal, is some of the most gripping filmmaking in the movie, and Sethupathi plays the adult Bhavani with a quiet, almost lazy menace. He rarely raises his voice, and his stillness makes him more frightening than any shouting villain. He turns what could have been a stock antagonist into a character with a history.

Vijay, meanwhile, plays to his strengths. JD is part slacker, part rebel, part mentor, and Vijay leans into the character’s shabby charm in the first half before transforming him into the kind of avenger his fans come to see. His scenes with the juvenile home’s boys give the film its emotional core, and the moments when he finally faces Bhavani are electric.

Lokesh’s style against star-vehicle demands

Lokesh Kanagaraj came to Master after the lean, one-night thriller Kaithi, and flashes of that discipline remain. The action is staged with clarity and a gritty edge, especially in the confrontations inside the juvenile home, and Anirudh’s score, including the hit song Vaathi Coming, gives the big moments a stadium energy.

But the film also has to serve as a Vijay vehicle, and it shows. Comic interludes, a lightweight romantic track with Malavika Mohanan’s character and extended hero-introduction scenes pull against the grimmer crime story. The result feels like two films stitched together: a hard-edged gangster drama and a festival crowd-pleaser.

Where three hours becomes too much

At 179 minutes, Master has plenty of slack. The first half takes a long time to move JD to the juvenile home, and the second half repeats its cat-and-mouse beats before reaching the showdown. Supporting characters, including Arjun Das’s menacing henchman, are introduced with promise and then underused. Trimming forty minutes would have made a sharper, more satisfying film.

Who should watch Master?

It is essential for Vijay fans and a strong pick for anyone who enjoys Tamil mass cinema, big hero-villain showdowns and action with a social message. It includes a lot of violence, some of it involving children, plus drinking and intimidation, so it is aimed at older teenagers and adults. Plan for a long evening and consider an interval of your own.

If Master works for you, try:

• Kaithi, Lokesh Kanagaraj’s tighter, grittier breakthrough thriller.
• Leo, the director’s next collaboration with Vijay, bigger and more stylised.
• Vikram Vedha, for Vijay Sethupathi in another magnetic gangster role, opposite a cop.

The verdict

Master is a flawed but enjoyable star vehicle, lifted by one of Vijay Sethupathi’s best villain turns and a playful, charismatic lead from Vijay. It is too long and tonally split, but when the two stars finally face each other, the film delivers exactly the charge its audience came for.

Rating: 3.5/5