Director Karthik Subbaraj wants to turn his 2025 Tamil film Retro, starring Suriya and Pooja Hegde, into a limited series for OTT platforms. The movie, which released in theaters on May 1, 2025, is now streaming on Netflix but received mixed reviews. Subbaraj revealed he has enough unused footage to create four to five 40-minute episodes, offering deeper storytelling. However, Netflix has not yet agreed to this extended version.
The film follows Paarivel “Paari” Kannan (Suriya), an orphan raised by a gangster, who seeks his true identity while reuniting with his lost love, Rukmini (Pooja Hegde). Despite strong performances, critics noted pacing issues in the second half. Subbaraj believes the extended cut could fix these problems by adding more details on the cult, comedy, and spiritual themes.
“I am holding talks with the digital platform. I told the representatives that I would give them a limited series version with extended scenes after 3-4 months of OTT premiere,” said Subbaraj in an interview with Galatta Plus. He compared his idea to Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, which has a limited series version on Netflix in the US.
The theatrical version of Retro earned around ₹97 crore worldwide but underperformed in some regions. Fans had mixed reactions—some praised Suriya’s acting, while others felt the story lost focus.
“One of the best movies of 2025,” wrote a fan on Netflix’s Instagram post. Another said, “Average movie.” A third commented, “Masterpiece the film is, and an absolute GOLDEN GEM the album by @musicsanthosh sir is.”
Subbaraj’s previous film, Jigarthanda DoubleX, also had unused footage, but he couldn’t release an extended version then. This time, he hopes to convince Netflix or another platform. The proposed series would explore Jayaram’s comedic therapy sessions, the Rubber Cult’s backstory, and Paari’s emotional struggles in more depth.
Retro marks the first collaboration between Subbaraj and Suriya. The film’s music by Santhosh Narayanan and cinematography by Shreyaas Krishna were praised. If the series happens, fans may see new action scenes and character arcs that were cut from the final edit.
For now, Retro is available on Netflix in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. Whether the extended version releases depends on negotiations with streaming platforms.
We use cookies to enhance your experience. By consenting, you allow us to process data like Browse behavior and unique IDs. Declining may affect some site features.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
