Suriya and Karthik Subbaraj's film Retro has netted more than 21 crore at the box office in India, according to data from the Sacnilk website. Reportedly, the film earned more than 10 crore in advance bookings alone. Also starring Pooja Hegde, Joju George, Prakash Raj, and Nassar, among others, Retro tells the story of a gangster (Suriya) who looks to leave his violent past behind him. The Karthik Subbaraj directorial has earned mixed reviews from critics. While viewers unanimously praised Suriya's performance, they have been divided regarding the storytelling.
An excerpt from CE's review of the film reads, "The director’s adamant fixation on making this film ideologically dense ironically ends up showing us how functionally shallow its surface-level social commentaries are. Perhaps, failing in pursuit of greatness is no failure at all. However, the biggest frustration with Retro remains to be that it fails to recognise and respect its own light before aiming for the sun."
