Karthik Subbaraj’s ‘Retro’, starring Suriya, is technically brilliant and emotionally distant
- Trinity Auditorium
- Apr 30
- 1 min read
The story is about a man who decides to give up violence, and this takes him on a journey where he discovers that he is the saviour of an oppressed people. There are several brilliant moments, but the film doesn’t touch the heart. The rest of the review may contain spoilers.
In Retro, Karthik Subbaraj takes the Chosen One template to one of the OG Chosen One templates: the story of Lord Krishna. The protagonist Paari (Suriya) is born on Krishna’s birthday. Like Krishna, Paari grows up with another mother, this film’s equivalent of Yashodha. The reason for Paari being taken away from his birth parents is a prophecy, which makes this film’s Kamsa (Nasser) kill all male children. The woman in Paari’s life (Pooja Hegde) is named Rukmini, and the way they meet as grown-ups is almost as if the gods planned this meeting. (In another film, we’d call this pure coincidence.) And like Krishna came to this world hearing the cries of the oppressed, Paari’s destiny is tied with the exploited Tamil population of an island around India. It is the Andamans here, but knowing the director, it’s probably a stand-in for Sri Lanka.
You can read the rest of the review here:
You can watch the trailer / video review here:
Copyright ©2025 GALATTA.
Comments