Master under the microscope: Making sense of the minutiae and the references that are more than what meets the eye
Lokesh Kanagaraj, true to our expectations, has laced Master with a ton of tasteful minutiae. Here, we help you play spot-the-references, so that your next watch could be a lot more exciting.
Actor Arun Alexander who passed away before the release of Master was paid tribute by the makers of the film. The famous voice artist had acted in all of Lokesh Kanagaraj's films till date
The animation for the production company's logo seems to carry a draft of Master's screenplay which hasn't made the final cut
Mahendran, who plays the younger Bhavani has earlier worked as a child artist with Vijay in films like Minsara Kanna (1999) and Coimbatore Mappillai (1996)
It was established in this scene that Bhavani's father was the previous Lorry Association's President and no wonder Bhavani wants to become one too later in his life
Bhavani's character practicing the right-hand punch for years seems to be based on Bruce Lee's famous quote
Mahanadhi Shankar's character who plays an observation home staff in Master is named Thulukaanam which was also the name of his character as a jail warden in his first film, Kamal's Mahanadhi
Master the Blaster track that plays during Vijay's introduction seems to be more of a song for the characters in that universe too. Later in the film, Malavika's character too listens to that song
Vijay's mannerism in the film is a callback to what he does in 2003's Thirumalai in which he draws a cigarette from his shirt collar
Another scene shows us a TV playing Shihan Hussaini's Athiradi Samayal. Interestingly, the martial art expert who has starred in a few films was a part of Vijay's Badri
In the auditorium scene, Andrea's character tells JD that he has gotten different shoes on both his legs. This was shown to us when he enters the college itself a lot earlier
The shot in Vaathi Coming where Vijay dances with classical dancers is a callback to a similar shot from Soorathenga song from Ghilli. Both are the first songs of the films
The friends of JD, played by Sriman, Sanjeev, Srinath, Prem Kumar and Nagendra Prasad are actors who, apart from being actual friends of Vijay, have all acted with Vijay previously
Sanjeev has done films like Chandralekha, Nilave Vaa, Badri and Pudhiya Geethai, and Prem Kumar has recently acted alongside Vijay in Sarkar
Srinath has done Naalaya Theerpu, Maanbumigu Maanavan and Vettaikkaaran with Vijay while Nagendra Prasad did Kushi and Ghilli with Vijay
Sriman has done multiples films with Vijay like Love Today, Nilave Vaa, Nenjinile, Friends, Vaseegara, Sukran, Pokkiri, Azhagiya Tamil Magan, Villu, Sura and Bairavaa
The chewing gum throw is something Vijay has done often, in films like Theri
The list of films JD calls as his life story are Mouna Ragam, 7/G Rainbow Colony, Varanam Aayiram, Punnagai Mannan, Kadhal Kottai, Premam and Titanic
The letter JD signs is different from the letter he shows the students. This is to show that he doesn't let the students know that he has to leave the work if the election doesn't happen peacefully
This shot of JD drinking with his kada spinning next to him happens to be the first-look of the film. Now we know why the first-look image was 'shaky'
The post-election scene sees the director using MGR's Adho Andha Paravai Pola track and it joins the list of Vijay films with the legendary actor's references
In the scene where an inspector explains JD about his new job, the song we listen to is Rise Up by Daniel Farrant. It's to symbolise how JD has to prepare for a mission
Vijay Sethupathi, in an earlier scene, tells how he prays to all gods and the artwork on the wall, depicting three religious symbols, reiterates how the school is under his control
The cat has been a symbol of JD's lethargic nature and seeing the death of the kids causes him to drop the cat, therefore, transforming him into a better person
The cat is then later seen in the house of JD's friend and colleague
A poster in the police station mentions about fake job mails. It could be a reference to how Charu tricked JD into becoming a teacher at the observation home
JD using his kada as a weapon is another subtle reference to Kamal Haasan from Sathya
And of course, the not so subtle reference to Vijay's previous films where the interval block started with his iconic 'I am waiting' line
To signify that JD has come from darkness to light?
The Thirukkural lines written all over the observation home are connected to that particular scene and would refer to the scenario happening at that moment
Probably that's why JD sticks the letter, written by the kids who died, to a photo of Thiruvalluvar
When Bhavani finally notices how much of a threat JD can be, the cold air around him in the chiller disappears. Probably it means that he can't afford to be cool anymore?
When Das mentions about JD's ruckus to Bhavani, the latter tells Das to disturb him mentally - the same way he was tortured when he was younger
While chasing the baddies who infiltrate the home, JD's costume looks strikingly similar to Thuppaki's Jagadish when he catches the terrorist escaping from the jail
There are subtle references and then there's this scene - a nod to Tamil cinema's most iconic kabbadi player, Velu from Ghilli!
And this time the callback is to the action sequence from Sarkar
The carrom shot he missed for Samantha in Kaththi's Aathi Enna Nee track, he pockets it in the Andha Kanna Paathaka track
The scene where Nasser's character explains JD's backstory seems to be another nod to Kamal Haasan by Lokesh Kanagaraj
Nasser explains how the death of JD's professor affected him badly and that's a reference to Kamal's character from Nammavar. Loki gives credit to the film in the end credits too
Now that's out of the way, in a previous scene, a professor tells how he has previously seen JD as a student in elections. This must've happened in during Nammavar times
We can draw parallels between the election scene, the romance between the professors and even the 'cleaning the premises' from both the films
The checkered shirts and glasses of JD too seem to be heavily influenced by his mentor, Selvam's attire
When Charu gets chased by goons and she enters a saloon to save herself, a small TV there plays the song Karutha Machan from Puthu Nellu Puthu Nathu
In that song, Suganya's character is 'supposedly' saved by the hero and that's similar to what happens in this scene where Charu gets saved by Undiyal
Considering the number of references we have from other films, we suppose this one was a callback to Lokesh's second film Kaithi
When Charu enquires about the utensil, JD says there's a lot more left in the bucket list. This is probably Lokesh indicating how he wants to do more such films
When JD gets hold of Bhavani without knowing that it's him, we hear Iravinil Aattam from Sivaji's Navarathiri playing in the background
The song can be a reference to how Bhavani's illegal works function. He even visits the home late at nights and that's why no kids have even seen him before
When will the goons ever learn that you just can't hit Vijay with a bottle? Here's a parallel from Ghilli
The villain telling the hero how his friends are going to die and the latter being on the phone helplessly was a trope we had earlier seen in Thuppakki
Apart from being a cool scene, horns symbolises strength, power and supremacy, which clearly happens to be Bhavani's forte
When Bhavani is busy speaking, JD uses the time to study the surroundings. Probably he saw the hooks hanging from the ceiling with which he kills Bhavani
After knowing that Bhavani's right-hand punch is deadly, JD tries to keep away from that by holding on to it in various stages throughout the final fight
The song Vaa Vathiyaare that Bhavani sings is from the 1968 film Bommalattam. Incidentally, Vaathi/Vaathiyar was speculated to be Master's original title
And when it's JD's chance to sing, he opts for TR's Vaa Da En Machi, from Thangaikor Geetham. TR sings it when he thrashes a few baddies who are disturbing his colleagues
Similar to the backdrop of the TR song, this scene too sees the hero fighting the baddie while those from his workplace are around him seeing him in action and cheering
JD kills and hangs up Bhavani similar to how the kids who were killed by Bhavani - an incident that caused JD to change from who he was to the saviour of the home's kids
Yet another Kaithi reference when an inmate asks Das how different the new inmate is going to be to which Das says it's not a Kaithi but Master!
And a wittily placed cameo featuring director Lokesh Kanagaraj and the screenplay co-writer, director Rathna Kumar
Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi characters, being the hero and villain of the film are given blue and red shades respectively
This happens right from the title font and both the names have a dash of both the colours as they're neither black nor white like the conventional hero and villain
The references to JD's music taste is all over his house. There's a gramophone, an old radio and posters of artists like MJ, Bob Marley, Freddie Mercury and Beatles
That can possibly be the reason why when made to sing, he goes for an English, or to be more specific, a Tanglish song like Kutti Story
Characters like Das and Undiyal call JD disrespectfully as Vaathi and Vaathiyar but once they know he's on their side, they call him Master
The fact that Bhavani never calls him Master but just Vaathi, till his last minute, is supposedly an indication that he has never changed from his bad ways till the end
After a break of seven years, Master marked the collaboration of Anirudh and Vijay. They last teamed up for 2014's Kaththi. Interestingly, he's in charge of the music for Thalapathy 65
While shooting for Master in Neyveli, Vijay clicked a selfie and that ended up becoming the most retweeted selfie of 2020 on Twitter. It currently stands at 174.1K retweets and 406.6k likes
Master also happens to be the first Vijay film to get a pan-Indian release. The film's dubbed versions released in Hindi and certain South Indian languages
It's also reported that Master might be getting a Hindi remake soon. Endemol Shine India has bought the Hindi rights for the film and is expected to star two top actors from Bollywood
And finally.... ever since Vijay began his acting career as the lead in 1992, 2020 was the first and only year where he hasn't given a release. Hopefully that never happens again
