Master is an upcoming Indian Tamil-language action-thriller film written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, and produced by Xavier Britto, under the banner XB Film Creators, and distributed by Lalit Kumar under Seven Screen Studios. The film stars Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi in the leading roles whilst Malavika Mohanan, Arjun Das, Andrea Jeremiah and Shanthanu Bhagyaraj play supporting roles. The music for the film is composed by Anirudh Ravichander, whilst cinematography and editing are handled by Sathyan Sooryan and Philomin Raj, respectively.
Master is the debut film produced by Britto, Vijay's relative, who earlier produced two films of the actor. The film's shooting took place in October 2019, with filming took place in Chennai, Delhi, Shimoga and Neyveli. The principal photography wrapped up in February 2020. The film was initially scheduled to release theatrically on 9 April 2020, but has since been indefinitely delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film will be released in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujrati, Odia languages.
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 two films for the actor, Sendhoorapandi (1993) and Rasigan (1994), both directed by S. A. Chandrashekhar. On 22 May 2019, it was reported that the actor gave a call sheet for 120 days, for the film. An official announcement was made on 24 August 2019, by producer Britto, under his newly launched production banner XB Film Creators. Along with the news, he revealed some of the crew that will work on the film, with Anirudh Ravichander being approached 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 director's Kaithi. Media reports suggest that Vijay will be essaying a role of a professor in the film.
Casting
In July 2019, it was reported that Arjun will be a part of the film as antagonist.However, the role went to Vijay Sethupathi. Kiara Advani, Raashi Khanna and Rashmika Mandanna, were reported to play the female leads, before Malavika Mohanan was finalised. The cast additions included Shanthanu Bhagyaraj and Antony Varghese,with the latter making his Tamil debut.Varghese later opted out of the project, citing scheduling conflicts. He 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 for Mohanan in the film.Actor Kathir's father made his acting debut with this film.
Filming
Principal photography began with a traditional pooja ceremony on 3 October 2019, the film's cast and crew were present at the event. On 4 October, director 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 went on to take action against Twitter users under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), to avoid further issues.
The crew went to film few important scenes, featuring Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi at Shimoga district in Karnataka, India, 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 was completed on 29 February 2020.
Music
Main article: Master (soundtrack)
The film's soundtrack album and background music is composed by Anirudh Ravichander, in his second collaboration with Vijay after Kaththi (2014), and his first collaboration with Lokesh Kanagaraj. The album features eight tracks, with three singles released before the launch, along with four additional tracks. The audio was released at a launch event held on 15 March 2020, at the Leela Palace Hotel in Chennai, with a live telecast being held on Sun TV. The album received positive response from critics.[citation needed]
Release
Master was originally scheduled to release in theatres on 9 April 2020, but has since been indefinitely delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The makers planned to release the film in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam languages. They also confirmed that the film will be scheduled only for a theatrical release, rather than being directly streamed through digital platforms.
Distribution
The film's pre-release business, which includes theatrical, overseas, satellite, digital, music and dubbing rights were sold for ₹200 crore. Master's worldwide distribution rights acquired by S. S. Lalit Kumar of Seven Screen Studios. Dheeraj Enterprises and Mahesh Koneru's East Coast Productions, acquired the Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh-Telangana distribution rights, while United India Exporters and Malik Streams bought the overseas rights.
Marketing
The film's first look poster was released on 31 December 2019, coinciding with New Year's Eve. The film's official title revealed in the picture and featuring actor Vijay staring at the camera with an intense look. The second look poster was released on Thai Pongal Day, 15 January 2020, featuring a picture of group of boys facing the other way with Vijay in the middle making a silencing gesture. The third look poster was released on 26 January 2020 coinciding with India's Republic Day, featuring both actors Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi staring each other in an intense look.The first look posters for the Telugu and Kannada versions of the film were released on 13 March 2020. The posters were near identical to the Tamil first look poster, but also included Vijay with a cat shown from his behind.
Controversies
Income tax raid
On 5 February 2020, the Income Tax Department raided Vijay's residence in Chennai and inquired about potential tax evasion, regarding his investment in immovable properties which he inherited from the production studio AGS Entertainment. Vijay was investigated when he was busy shooting for Master in Neyveli. Nearly ₹65 crore was seized by the officials from the AGS Entertainment producer and film financer Anbu Cheliyan's residence. Later, the I-T department said that nothing significant was found during the raid and Vijay has paid all taxes. Member of the parliament Dayanidhi Maran accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of politically targeting Vijay through IT raids because he was critical of the BJP.
Protests by Bharatiya Janata Party
On 7 February, members of the BJP protested in front of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) where the shooting of Master was going on. The BJP members protested against the NLC administration for granting permission for the shoot. Although the film crew had obtained permission for the shoot, the members of the BJP claimed that it is a highly secured area and it's not a place for a movie shoot and also threatened to continue their protests if the shooting did not stop. Soon, Vijay's fans started to arrive in numbers and protested against the party workers. The protesters and the fans left after intervention by the police.
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