It was the year 2011 when the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association had resolved not to extend “any cooperation” to the then forthcoming Vijay-starrer Kavalan and "any of his films in future". It was because Sura, Vijay's earlier release the previous year had done poorly and the actor was asked by the association to compensate for the losses which he did not commit to.

Cut to 2020 and the following meme is going viral among Vijay fans which reflects the words of the association's general secretary, R. Panneerselvam. While the animosity between the two parties certainly did not stretch for 9 whole years (Kaavalan was a hit and Vijay has had many hits since then), the current turn of events with the pandemic and Master around is what makes this meme so popular.

வாழ்க்க ஒரு வட்டம் டா 🔥#Thalapathy @actorvijay 🙏🏻#Master @MasterMovieOff pic.twitter.com/OSVfufjnB8

— O T F C (@OTFC_Off) December 29, 2020

At a time when star actors and otherwise were resorting to bypass theatrical release, the speculation of Master releasing on OTT had theater owners in a bind. This is because Master's theatrical release held the potential of reviving the Tamil theater business and other star-vehicles returning to movie screens.  

Also given the popularity and fan-mania Vijay enjoys, Master would be a sure-shot crowd-puller - a dire need-of-the-hour. So when Vijay, whose film has been completed for 10 months now, announced that his movie would premiere on the big screen first, theater owners even went as far as thanking him publicly and appealing to the government for a higher occupancy. 

Given the turn of tables between 2011 and now, it sure does seem like Vijay has become the embodiment of his famous Thirumalai dialogue, “life is like a circle, here the winner loses someday and the loser wins someday.”