Retro (taglined Love-Laughter-War) is a 2025 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film[5] written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. Produced by Stone Bench Creations and 2D Entertainment, the film stars Suriya and Pooja Hegde in the lead roles. In the film, Paarivel “Paari” Kannan, an orphan raised by a gangster, faces betrayal and a violent cult as he searches for his true origins, fulfils a prophecy, and tries to reunite with his lost love, Rukmini.
The film was announced in March 2024 under the tentative title Suriya 44,[a] along with the tagline Love, Laughter, War. The title was revealed in December 2024. Principal photography commenced in June 2024 and wrapped by early-October. Filming locations included the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Ooty, Kerala and Chennai. The film has music composed by Santhosh Narayanan, cinematography handled by Shreyaas Krishna and editing by Shafique Mohamed Ali.
Retro was released on 1 May 2025 in standard and EPIQ formats and emerged as a commercial success grossing over ₹122.1 crore (US$14 million).[6][7] The film received positive reviews praising the performance of Suriya and Hegde, Subbaraj’s direction and storytelling, music, action sequences and visuals, but some pointed out issues with the pacing. It set several box office records for a Tamil film, emerging one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of 2025. Retro‘s success led the team to donate ₹10 crore (US$1.2 million) from the film’s profit to the educational NGO Agaram Foundation.[8]
Plot
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In 1960s Thoothukudi, a gangster’s wife, Sandhya, adopts an orphaned infant with a spear-shaped scar on his stomach. She names him Paarivel “Paari” Kannan, raising him lovingly while her husband, Thilagan, refuses to acknowledge the boy. After Sandhya’s death, a teenage Paari meets Rukmini at their mothers’ funeral rites in Varanasi. On their train back to Thoothukudi, when Thilagan is ambushed, Paari saves him, earning Thilagan’s reluctant respect.
By 1989, Thilagan remarries and has a biological son. Paari remains loyal to him and his criminal empire, though his new wife sees him only as a henchman. Reuniting with Rukmini, now a veterinarian, Paari falls deeply in love. After four years of courtship, in 1993 they plan to marry. At their wedding, Paari announces that he is leaving the life of crime. However, Thilagan accuses him of sabotaging a high-stakes arms deal—code-named “Gold Fish”—involving weapons smuggled for a prime ministerial candidate, Dharman. Paari admits guilt but withholds the location of the cache. Enraged, Thilagan tries to kill Rukmini, but Paari retaliates, severing his hand in the process. He is immediately arrested and imprisoned. Heartbroken by his return to violence, Rukmini leaves him and moves to an undisclosed location.
5 Years later in 1998, Paari is promised early release if he fights for a secretive cult. Learning Rukmini is in the Andaman Islands, he escapes custody and heads there. To win her back, he kidnaps Chaplin Laali, a comedic therapist, and impersonates him. The real Laali, under duress, plays along. On the island, Paari performs as Laali and reunites with Rukmini, who is unaware of his disguise. The island is ruled by the tyrannical Lord Milton and his son, Freddie, who abuses animals and harasses Rukmini. When Freddie goes too far, Paari violently attacks him. A humiliated Freddie hires a cult leader to capture Paari. Recognizing him, the cult leader informs his boss, Michael, and alerts Thilagan.
Michael runs a deadly cult called “Rubber Cult” with gladiator-style games between the island’s rich and the enslaved poor. The matches are rigged, and the losers are fed to crocodiles by Rajavel, Michael’s father. Michael exposes Paari’s true identity during a comedy show, shocking Rukmini, who walks away in disbelief. Paari accepts her decision and joins the cult. In his first match, Paari’s brutal skill stuns the audience. Michael sees him as a star and throws a party to celebrate. There, a drunken Paari lets slip the secret location of the Gold Fish cache. Later, when attacked by enslaved locals, they spot his scar and realize he is the prophesied child from a local legend—one destined to return a sacred spear of Jada Muni and kill Rajavel.
They reveal Paari’s true identity: he was born to Pasupathy and Lakshmi, islanders who had twins—Paari, who was actually named Jada Muni by his biological parents, and a sister. Fearing Rajavel’s wrath, they smuggled Paari to India. He was adopted by Sandhya after his protector was killed. Now aware of his roots, Paari meets his real father, Pasupathy. The next day, Paari returns to the arena, fighting for the poor. After winning, he names Michael and Rajavel the weakest—condemning them to death. Paari defeats Michael in a brutal duel but spares his life, humiliating him instead. Paari then storms Rajavel’s estate. Rajavel feels insulted of going to be killed by his slaves, so he shoots himself and dies and Paari reclaims the sacred spear.
At Jada Muni’s temple, Paari returns the spear to the astrologer and reunites with Pallavi and his twin sister. Rukmini, finally understanding the full truth, reconciles with Paari. He promises her that he has found his dhammam—his true path—and renounced violence. But the peace is brief. Thilagan, Michael, and Freddie arrive at the temple to kill them. They are shocked to find Paari’s family and the islanders aiming bazookas at them—revealed to be the long-lost Gold Fish weapons. Thilagan realizes Paari outwitted them all. Paari calmly tells his mother to fire. Lakshmi, now empowered, fires a warning shot, forcing their surrender. The next day, the islanders rejoice in their newfound freedom as Paari and Rukmini finally marry, fulfilling both prophecy and love.