Retro Review: Suriya Gives His All But Kartik Subbaraj's Wayward Storytelling Doesn't Let Him Soar
Retro is Karthik Subbaraj failing to recreate the magic of Jigarthanda Double X, despite having a solid Suriya at helm.
RetroU/A
Retro is Karthik Subbaraj’s intent to make a campy film that aims to bring back a unique flavour of Indian cinema, which was heavily influenced by the likes of Enter The Dragon. It is particularly amusing how Karthik has attempted to use the tropes of the Blaxploitation genre in an Indian setting that hits out at colonialism. He first did it with Jigarthanda Double X, which is Karthick’s tryst with Westerns. He has done it again with Retro, which is his tryst with the 90s martial arts film. Like how Hollywood westerns had an influence on Indian films, the likes of such martial arts action films also made an impression on our filmmakers. However, the former style is more pronounced in our pop culture than the latter. It could be the reason that Retro doesn’t make the same impact as Jigarthanda Double X. Here, Karthik is lost in finding the distinct texture which is elusive for him.
More often than not, such films had a caricature of a villain who is in control of a village or an island or an industry. Enter the hero with his own struggles, which eventually evolve into a cause for the greater good. Paarivel Kannan (Suriya) is born with a birthmark and a prophecy. He is destined to slay the demon, but Karthik doesn’t get to the point that easily. We spend a lot of time (read the entire first half) to reach the prime conflict of the film. Paari, an adopted son of a gangster Thilagan (Joju George), wants to leave behind his life of violence for Rukmini (Pooja Hegde). But Thilagan doesn’t let him go as Paari is in possession of ‘Goldfish’ that is worth millions. As violence keeps haunting him, Rukmini leaves Paari and goes to live in one of the Andaman Islands. Naturally, Paari reaches the island where he has a bigger purpose waiting for him than romance.
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The island is ruled by a father-son dictator duo played by Nassar and Vidhu, who kill humans and animals for sport. The film spends way too much time on Paari’s journey to find his ‘Dhammam’, a recurrent word in the film, which could mean calling or way of life or purpose. Karthik keeps making the film dense with many such layers. After a point, the hero’s journey becomes confusing with a confusing trajectory. That’s the overarching problem of Retro: it lacks a ‘cut-and-right’ arc. Another issue is that the film fails to demand any emotional investment from the viewer. It is strange that while Jigarthanda Double X also travels in a similar trajectory, the pain of the villagers there was felt. Hence, the climax became a bit cathartic. Also, the pessimistic nature of Jigarthanda Double X was in perfect sync with reality. The imagery of an entire village getting gunned down, even as they sing and dance, evoked pain. Here, Karthik gets a bit optimistic as the villagers now get to be on the other end of the gunpoint. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to get a similar catharsis like last time.
I wish Retro was just about one thing, and Karthik didn’t burden himself with social responsibilities, exploring his fascination for all things Tarantino, nostalgia, and ecoactivism at the same time. I also wish filmmakers across the board stop seeing films as a means to nurture their inner ‘fanbois’. Honestly, it is now tiring to keep getting odes, fanservice, and indulgence in the name of films. What’s more unfortunate is how filmmakers keep failing Suriya, when he gives it all every single time.
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