Reception

Critical response
Master received mostly positive reviews from critics. M Suganth of The Times of India wrote, "In the end, it is the charismatic performances of Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi that keeps us rooting." LM Kaushik of Sify wrote, "Despite its pace issues and the length, ‘JD’ Vijay and ‘Bhavani’ Vijay make it worthwhile." S. Srivatsan of The Hindu wrote that although the film is "a bit drag and flab," the film breaks several tropes associated with the "Vijay formula." Ranjani Krishnakumar of Firstpost wrote the film was "only concerned with the hero and the slick stunt choreography" but also notes Vijay Sethupathi puts a "disproportionate effort into his role" Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV criticised the film's length but wrote, "Buoyed by a fantastic score by Anirudh Ravichander, here is a film that, for all its flaws, is keenly aware of the star power at its disposal and seldom punches below its weight."

Box office
Master was the highest-grossing film in United Arab Emirates, collecting $1.4 million within two days, surpassing Wonder Woman 1984 and Tenet. The film was a profitable venture in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, collecting ₹9.25 crore share in first three days. Since its release according to Deadline Hollywood, it became the biggest post-pandemic worldwide release as well as the highest-grossing film in international markets and also topped the global box office rankings for some time. It was the first Indian film to have occupied No 1 in the global box office. In the first sixteen days, the film collected ₹127 crore in Tamil Nadu alone, and its Hindi dubbed version Vijay The Master collected ₹13 crore in sixteen days taking overall, ₹240 crore worldwide with overseas around $11 million.