films that took the standard to an international level. The action-thriller Theri directed by Atlee was released in April 2016 to mixed reviews from critics and audiences, with one reviewer criticizing the actor's performance and the "predictable" storyline. It was the second-highest-grossing Tamil film of 2016 and Vijay's second film to gross over 1,710,000,000. In 2017, the masala film Bairavaa was released. It received mixed reviews and it collected 115 crore at the box office. His 61st film, the action thriller Mersal, was directed by Atlee. It was both a critical and commercial success, becoming the first of Vijay's films to gross over 2.5 billion. The film was also released in Japan in the cities of Tokyo, Ebina, Osaka and Nakaya. For his role in Mersal, Vijay was nominated for Best Actor at the National Film Awards UK in 2018. The film won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the same event. The film was Vijay's third film to be released in China after Kaavalan (2011) and Puli (2015). The film was also screened at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea. In 2018 the political film Sarkar was released with Vijay in the lead role, directed by AR Murugadoss. Keerthi Suresh played the female supporting role, it being her second collaboration with Vijay after Bairavaa. Following its release on Diwali 2018, Sarkar broke several collection records and entered the 100 Crore Club within two days. The Hollywood Reporter mentioned Vijay as a man with "swag" in the film. Sarkar was his second film to gross over 2.5 billion. Sarkar was released in Spain and screened in France and Japan. Bigil was released in 2019, directed by Atlee, is a football action film. Vijay underwent "special training" for his role in the film. Bigil was Vijay's last film of the decade. Bigil received mixed reviews from critics, but Vijay was praised for the portrayal of his character within the film. It was a commercial success, collecting more than 300 crore, became both the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2019—within three months of its release—and the highest-grossing film of Vijay's career. Bigil was also the first Tamil film released in Egypt and Jordan. In 2020, Bigil was the first Tamil film re-released in Germany. During the same year, Lokesh Kanagaraj was selected as the director of Vijay's film Master produced by Xavier Britto. Master was originally scheduled to be