Before Vijay starrer Master and Simbu starrer Eeswaran hit theater screens this month, the Tamil Nadu government had granted a 100% seat occupancy in movie theaters despite the Coronavirus pandemic. However citing that the permission flouts COVID-19 SOPs provided by the Ministry of Health Affairs (MHA) for cinema halls, the central government had asked the state to revoke it.

Theaters screening Master who were seen not following the 50% rule were even fined by the state police. Now, the Tamil Nadu government has once again allowed for 100% occupancy in movie theaters staring February 1, 2021.

It is worth mentioning here that the first set of vaccines have only been administered for front-line workers** and the general public is still far away from getting access to it.  

** - These mostly include people working in the health-care industry but exclude pregnant and lactating women, anyone below 18 years of age, immuno-compromised patients and people on anti-coagulants.