"Almost Ruined By Rain": Karthik Subbaraj On Shooting Retro's 15-Minute Single-Shot
Director Karthik Subbaraj’s romantic action entertainer Retro, with actor Suriya, is currently basking in the success of its Rs 100 crore milestone achievement. The film, praised for its intense action and offbeat narration, also gained specific attention for its 15-minute continuous shot. Here are the trials and tribulations that the team endured to pull off a noteworthy Kanimaa shot.
Produced by Stone Bench Films and Suriya’s 2D Entertainment, the film boasts a stellar cast, including Suriya, Pooja Hegde, Joju George, Jayaram, Nassar, Prakash Raj, Shreya Saran, and others on board.
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As an interesting initiative, 2D Entertainment, the makers of the action entertainer, sketched a few comic strips to narrate the events that went on behind the camera on the sets of Retro. One such interesting chapter of Retro Comic is the Kanimaa’vin Kadhai—The Story Behind the Viral Hit!
Even though the comic pretty much explains what went on behind the making of the now famous shot, the Jigarthanda director added more details about the specific shot in his recent interaction with THR.
Kanimaa’vin Kadhai
The director reminisced about the first reaction of Suriya when he pitched the idea to him. Once the director and his team plotted the entire scene and technically planned the whole shot, he informed the lead actor. After listening to the idea, Suriya just smiled and, surprisingly, asked Karthik, “How are you coming up with something like this?”
Karthik also revealed that even though the Kanguva star felt it a bit challenging, he completely involved himself in it.
But as we all know, it is not a simple mission to accomplish. Karthik revealed that the entire team dedicated a few days of the schedule solely to shoot the scene right.
Prior to the shoot, the team dedicated an entire day to tech rehearsals without any artists. The next day, the Retro team mapped the whole scene with all the artists and technicians to hit their mark on time. On the third day, after a final rehearsal with the costumes on, they went on the floors to shoot the scene.
Trials and Tribulations
The first attempt to shoot the scene was marred by a technical glitch. During the second attempt, when they almost got the shot right, the camera shook and someone looked into the camera.
On the second day, it began raining, which wasn’t in the plan at all. The team redesigned the scene with umbrellas and lightly wrapped the camera but still weren’t fully satisfied with it.
On their fourth attempt, with just half an hour left for the wrap, the team shot the entire 15-minute continuous shot and that is what is now receiving praise in the film.
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‘Retro‘ Box office collection
Retro has crossed the Rs 100 crore milestone in just six days of release. According to the trade tracking website Sacnilk, the film earned Rs. 48.90 crores in India as of Tuesday.
Watch the alternate version of the Kanimaa song here:
