MASTER, FANBOYS, AND THE VIRUS: A LOVE TRIANGLE

FESTIVALS are incomplete in Tamil Nadu without films. Big-ticket releases of Kollywood superstars are usually timed to coincide with Deepavali or Pongal. This year, however, with the Covid playing the supervillain in the real world, filmmakers struggled to get their movies out to the audience.

- NAVEIN DARSHAN & CP BALASUBRAMANYAM

Actor Vijay’s Master, which released on Wednesday, was billed as the ‘Messiah Film’ that would bring the audience back to theatres, despite concerns of a fresh spike in Covid cases.

Though the State government had to go back on its decision to allow 100 per cent seating in theatres, the excitement of the audience remained intact. All eyes were on January 13. Yours truly managed to get a seat for the prized FDFS show (at 4 am) through some contacts.

Though sceptical about the Covid safety measures being followed, the sights at Kamala Theatre early in the morning were encouraging. It was a pleasant surprise to see hundreds of people wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, well as much as was possible. It was interesting to note that the usual celebrations in the form of band music, crackers and paal abishegams were all done away with, but replaced instead with face masks that bore the Master print.