Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Suriya starrer ‘Retro’ is all about over-the-top 1990s masala, action, and a little bit of romance, even though it’s the love story that fuels everything in the plot.
Directed and written by Karthik Subbaraj, ‘Retro’ opens with a burglary at a gangster’s property, culminating in the gruesome murder of the watchman, who is survived by an orphan baby with a spear-shaped mark on its body. Taking it as a sign from ‘God’, the gangster’s wife adopts the baby, names it Paarivel Kannan, while her husband Thilagan (Joju George) only tolerates the child to humour her. Thilagan finally starts to see the boy as his son when a young Paari bravely fights off several goons trying to murder Thilagan in his sleep. Paari (Suriya) soon becomes Thilagan’s right-hand man, dreaded by rivals, but vows to abandon the life of violence when he agrees to marry Dr. Rukimini (Pooja Hegde), a veterinarian and the love of his life. And if you’ve seen enough action movies, you’d know this about a life of crime, immortalized in Hotel California lyrics – You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
The primary conflict thus in ‘Retro’ centers on Paari’s adoptive father refusing to let him walk away, especially since he plays a crucial role in an upcoming arms deal codenamed ‘Gold Fish’. This clash of wills leads to Paari assaulting Thilagan, landing him in prison, while Rukimini, disappointed in his choices, vanishes. The film’s second half follows Paari as he tries to track down Rukimini and win her back. His attempts include jail escapes, kidnapping, impersonating a comic, and even clashing with a bizarre cult. The plot goes absolutely off the rails, but not in a “whoa, this is wild and fun” way, more like “wait, what is even happening?” kind of chaos.
I had to do a double take at Pooja Hegde’s introductory scene in Retro, where she evidently looks nothing like her usual self, swathed in make-up several shades darker than her natural skin tone. The South Indian obsession with “fair” skin continues, and it’s frustrating to see brown-washing still practiced in 2025. Rukimini could’ve simply been written as fair-skinned, or they could’ve cast someone who fit the intended look. Hegde is charming as Rukimini, but the artificial brown face-paint is a constant distraction. And let’s be real, ‘Retro’ is all about Suriya; the creators could’ve easily gone with a newcomer for the female lead.
With an almost 3-hour runtime (2 hour 48 minutes), Retro is too long and veers into randomness in the second half. While Suriya is dashing as always in his action-hero avatar, the script feels not just set in the ’90s but like it was actually written then. Sure, it’s a masala action flick, and we don’t expect the brilliance of ‘Jai Bhim’ or ‘Soorarai Pottru’, but this is chaotic and mostly unentertaining, complete with a very unnecessary song-and-dance number in prison. Even Rajinikanth’s ‘Jailer‘ didn’t stoop to that (and no, ‘Hukum’ doesn’t count – that was a banger), despite prison life being a dominant theme. Besides, several scenes meant to be ‘funny’ in ‘Retro’, just fall flat.
Honestly, just watch this film if you’re a die-hard Suriya fan, and keep your expectations low regarding the plot.
Rating: 2.5 stars on 5. ‘Retro’ is on Netflix.
Also Read: Sirens Netflix Series Review (Short Audio Version below)
I guess ‘Retro’ stands for retrogressive.
“I had to do a double take at Pooja Hegde’s introductory scene in Retro, where she evidently looks nothing like her usual self, swathed in make-up several shades darker than her natural skin tone. The South Indian obsession with “fair” skin continues, and it’s frustrating to see brown-washing still practiced in 2025”