When 'Retro' art direction team erected a jail set so real that Suriya felt he was in a real prison for five days!

Chennai, Mar 3: The makers of director Karthik Subbaraj's explosive action entertainer 'Retro', featuring actors Suriya and Pooja Hegde in the lead, have now disclosed how the art direction team of the film unit came up with such a realistic jail set inside the Chennai BSNL office that actor Suriya ended up saying that for five days, he felt like he was in a real jail!

Continuing its practise of presenting some funny and memorable incidents that happened on the sets of Retro as a comic strip, Stone Bench films, the firm producing the film along with Suriya's 2D Entertainment, on Monday released its fourth comic strip titled 'EPI004: Reel Jail, Real Feels' on its X timeline.

Pointing out that the jail set for 'Retro' was originally planned in places like Shimoga Jail, the CSI Building in Thiruvallur, Tuticorin, and Cochin, the production house said that Karthik Subbaraj however had a smarter idea.

"He decided to create a full retro-style jail inside the Chennai BSNL office," the production house informed and added that the art team put in incredible effort to realise that vision.

"Around 40% of the building was already in ruins, and the rest was transformed into a warden's office, prison cells, a library, a kitchen, and even a visitors' area. The entrance arch made it look even more real," the production house said and added that when Suriya walked in, he was shocked.

'He (Suriya) had been to the BSNL office many times before, but he couldn't believe his eyes. 'I've been coming here for years. How did you bring the Madurai jail here? Super ya, Karthi!' he said. Karthik, as always, gave full credit to the art team," the production house recalled.

"The shoot started with two fight sequences, followed by other action scenes. Once they wrapped up, They shot Kannadi Poove. Suriya sir shared his feelings telling 'For five days, I felt like I was living inside a real jail. I experienced every moment, every emotion... and danced it all out.' And that's how Kannadi Poove from Retro came to life," the production house said.

Apart from Suriya and Pooja Hegde, 'Retro', which is to hit screens on May 1, will feature a host of stars including Malayalam actors Joju George and Jayaram and Tamil actor Karunakaran.

Music for the film is by Santhosh Narayanan and cinematography by Shreyaas Krishna. Editing is being handled by Shafique Mohamed Ali and art direction by Jacki, Mayapandi. The film, which will be high on action, will have stunts by Kecha Khamphakdee.