Master – movie review

After a long time, a movie review post!! The hype around the movie was the main reason behind this post. It has been a much awaited and much delayed one for almost an year now, with several teasers and constant news about the movie keeping it afresh on viewers mind. In fact the family drama around Vijay’s dad launching a political party without vijay’s knowledge, their much publicized fight, the controversies around raids on his house, everything was used to gain the publicity mileage around this mega expensive movie. What could’ve been the costliest release for Amazon, turned out on theaters and brought back the crowds in big numbers for ticket booking, Corona be damned. There was a direct conflict with center and state with former restricting seating capacity to half while latter allowing full capacity, distributors who paid through their noses be damned. Was the movie worth it with a new age cinema director of 2 hits old helming the film? die-hard fans who braved their lives and wanted to scream at their matinee idol on screen be damned. The much hyped USP of the movie – the battle of 2 vijays (VJ vs VJ sethupathi)  turned out to be the single biggest slob of the movie. There are hardly any chemistry/fireworks between the 2 of them, with just 3 scenes where they share the space, with one of them being a 15 minute long fight sequence, expectations be damned. 

For such a damning movie, wonder how the director would’ve explained the characters to the actors. For Vijay it could’ve gone like – you will be playing an alcoholic carrying a hip flask with bottomless pit supply of alcohol and trendy glasses, being the most unruly and undisciplined person on the campus, yet being the most favorite of lecturers (or was it professor? Wonder if our guys ever get the difference between the two!!). You will also end up teaching in a juvenile delinquent institution managing unruly kids. People will love you for no reason and those unruly rowdy students of the college will listen to your every word with rapt attention of a robot. As for the villain, the director might’ve said – Mr. Vijay Sethupathi, nalla payment. Take the role. VJS fans, surely would’ve been disappointed to the core, seeing their idol being trashed and thrashed like one B Grade movie villain. Heroines and rest of the cast are mere set properties. Anirudh was the key reason for some of the most positive publicity around this movie, with “Let me tell a kutty story” song becoming a chartbuster from the very second it was released. The cute lyrics and simple tune, capped with added hype of vijay himself being the crooner, the song had mass written all over it. Vaathi raid and Vaathi coming where probably the most abused BGM’s across all shows and drama last year. Bringing to my core peeve of this movie – why the characterization? Of all the professions they could’ve chosen to depict why choose teacher/professor/lecturer or whatever “er” Vijay is in the movie!!! We’ve been witnessing gradual degradation of everything that was sacred 2 decades back. It started with comedians addressing parents (dads especially) in singular, teachers (especially language) being singled out crass vulgar (if English mam) ridiculous clown( if tamil sir) psychotic strict (if maths) as caricatures. With this movie, quite sure, the term mam or sir would have been fast replaced with vaathi. Even MGR movies had him being addressed as Vaathiyar, with the term itself carrying the respect. The very term is hurled like an abuse nowadays with vaathiyar becoming vaathiyaaN and cringeworthy vaathi. The term “Bro” became a cultural phenomenon after the Movie Thalaiva was released where Vijay and Santhanam addressed each other as “bro”. Wonder the impact of vaathi on kids in coming years!!! This is just a tip or iceberg example of how decadent and irresponsible the director had been on his characterization. 

The story is literally non-existent considering they managed to run the show for a minute short of 3 hours!!! There are only so many fights a movie can fit in and after 179 exhausting minutes when I take a look back to figure out what was the story this was what I could make out – VJS, an abuser of juvie children for his illegal business, having undergone child abuse himself, is the invisible villain. VJ – an alcoholic with no past (whether it was not worth mentioning or the director decided to have some mercy on the audience it is GOK) having been shunned by the management for his misconduct (and no surprise that the management are depicted as villains here because it is the hero who is doing the wrong thing!!) ends up at the very same juvie institute to teach the kids for 3 months. Yes. In 3 months he alone can bring such a positive change and upliftment in the lives of all those downtrodden kids, whose path to doom is set on stone by the villain. More than a couple of fights that stretches anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes each, the villain is killed and movie is over!!!    

Gils verdict – Master is not anyones cup of tea and wouldn’t satisfy neither the fans of both the VJ’s or the director, who had 2 very good outings before he bagged this big fish. Not worth it.