‘I stopped looking at reviews as they’re no longer authentic’: Retro director Karthik Subbaraj

He is basking in the accolades he’s receiving for his latest film Retro, starring Suriya, and is grateful for all the love being showered by the audience. Director Karthik Subbaraj’s Retro is his 12th directorial in a career spanning a decade which has seen some really novel films like Jigarthanda and Jigarthanda Double X. His unique storytelling style, technical prowess and strong anti-hero characters have made this talented director a force to reckon with in Tamil cinema. In this exclusive chat with Hindustan Times, the Iraivi director talks about Retro, Suriya, his production company and more.

The 15-minute single shot in Retro was outstanding technically and visually. How did you conceive this?

I just wanted to show how the protagonist’s life – Paari – sort of takes a complete U-turn in like 15 minutes. Because just when that sequence starts, his life is all good and he’s going to get married the next day. He has come out of all his previous problems and is in a happy mind-state thinking that his life is going to be better from that point. Then suddenly, the father character enters the wedding hall and in the next 15 minutes, his life is going to turn upside-down. This was there in the initial draft of the script but then it wasn’t a single shot. While rewriting, I thought why not show the 15 minutes in real time and how it is actually changing his life. Let us show that moment without any cuts. And that’s how the thought of doing it in a single shot came about.

How challenging was it to execute though?

It was challenging. But it was a very good challenge for everyone involved like the technical team, artists, and everyone else. We had a lot of pre-planning and did a lot of paperwork before the shoot, then a lot of technical rehearsals, and then proper rehearsal with the artist, with the junior artists, etc. And then we went for the actual take. So, it was quite a learning process for all of us.

It was very satisfying to pull it off because we planned it for four days – one day of complete technical rehearsal; one day with the artists and everyone; third day with costumes and we did a take as well. We got like 80% of it but there were some small flaws in that take. And on the fourth day we achieved what we wanted in the second take. I haven’t attempted this before so it was challenging and new for me.

Most directors who work with Suriya say he’s game to try anything new. Was that the kind of experience you also had while doing Retro?

Suriya sir’s completely into the process of the art and he’s very passionate and puts a lot of thought into his acting. It’s not like he just comes to the set, asks the director what the scene is, and performs and goes. He’s always immersed in the thought process of the character and runs through the performance in his head numerous times before coming and performing on set. He always wants to improve. Even when I say okay, he’ll try to go for one more take to enhance his performance. I think he’s one of the most sensible, dedicated and passionate actors we have.

His 2D Productions and my production company, Stone Bench Films co-produced Retro. I didn’t face any restrictions or constraints on the production aspect. Suriya sir comes on set as an actor and I was a director.

Other than the 15-minute single shot, what was challenging on this film?

I think every scene had its own challenges in different intensity. For instance, we shot a lot in the Andaman Islands. Logistics-wise and shooting-wise, it was very tough. We had a lot of action sequences also which had its own challenges too. The whole process of overcoming the challenges along the way and getting the best shots and performances was key and we did that.

Did you write the first draft of Retro with Rajinikanth in mind?

I had written a script and sort of pitched it to him once. But at that time, it was not in this shape at all – only a small part of this was in that script. But as I started writing, I felt it needed a much younger actor as it was predominantly turning out to be a story with love as the core. I think Surya sir is the best person who could have done this film.

Suriya mentioned in an interview that he loved another script of yours that he wanted to do.

He was really excited about it but scale-wise and time-wise it is bigger. It needs a lot of time from him. I’m definitely doing that film with Suriya sir but I’m not sure when we’ll start as he has numerous commitments now. Like all my films, it is genre-bending and it’s a dream script of mine.

Music director Santosh Narayanan and you are more than just colleagues, right?

I got to know him when I worked with him on Pizza (2012) and our journey has been together since then except for Petta which had music by Anirudh. We started to know each other professionally but now we are very close friends. We both know each other well and what each of us wants creatively in a particular film, what our vision is towards cinema and what his vision is towards music. A lot of things gel well with us in a good way.

From Nalayya Iyakkunar (Future Director) in 2009 to working with A-list stars today, how do you see your journey in Tamil cinema?

I’m so happy. Nothing was actually planned. I just always made sure that I worked on a script that first excites me. And when I complete the script, it should excite me more. I’m still able to do what I wanted to do and continue to do it, whether I work with actors or stars – this makes me happy. I’m very happy to be in this state.

With my production house, Stone Bench, I want bring out more talent and do really offbeat and inspiring scripts. I want to back a lot of debut directors and actors and content-wise create very unique and quality cinema. That’s the simple motive we have.

You’re so soft-spoken, do you ever lose your cool on set like some directors?

Most of the time I lose my cool. (Laughs) Ask my assistant directors and they’ll tell you!

In one line, what would be director Karthik Subbaraj’s USP?

I haven’t thought about it. (Laughs) I would always want to blend or erase the line that separates mainstream commercial cinema and art cinema.

The reviews for Retro were mixed.

I didn’t look at any of the reviews. I mean, I don’t see authenticity in most of these reviews. So, I stopped looking at them.