Movie Review: ‘Viswanath & Sons'

Movie Review: ‘Viswanath & Sons'

Cast: Suriya, Mamitha Baiju, Radhika Sarathkumar, Raveena Tandon, Sunil Reddy, Harsha Chemudu, Kali Venkat, Hyper Aadi, and others.

Music: G.V. Prakash Kumar

Cinematography: Nimish Ravi

Producers: Suryadevara Naga Vamsi, Sai Soujanya

Writer & Director: Venky Atluri

Tamil star Suriya has a huge following in Telugu as well, and Telugu director Venky Atluri, along with Telugu producer Naga Vamsi, teamed up with him to carve out the Tamil film “Viswanath & Sons”. The film was released in both Telugu and Tamil today, and here’s how it is.

STORY:

Sanjay Viswanath (Suriya) is a business tycoon and an Olympic gold-medal-winning shooter. Due to some circumstances he faced in his childhood, he decides to avoid marriage. To fulfill the wish of his mother to have an heir, he becomes a father to a boy through surrogacy. However, as the boy falls victim to a rare disease, he requires a bone marrow transplant. Then Maddy (Mamitha Baiju) enters to save the kid, and the experiences that happen from there, including her relationship with Sanjay and the other consequences, are the rest of the story.

NARRATION-ANALYSIS:

When the film ‘Viswanath & Sons’ was launched, many thought that the combination of Suriya and Mamitha would be like Balakrishna-Sreeleela’s Bhagawanth Kesari. While many thought that Suriya would appear like a father figure to Mamitha, the teaser shocked them by showcasing her as his heroine. People are surprised to see that this is an age-gap romance. But the point Venky Atluri envisioned is something we don’t see in star-heroes’ films. Though the director has shown superb freshness till then, the rest of the film has become a routine of sorts with a template-driven love story and family drama. However, he managed the two-and-a-half-hour runtime effectively without boring the audience. By beautifully presenting familiar tropes, this routine and sometimes slow narration turned out to be a clean film that would entice a family audience. But for youths, the film will be just okayish.

While the core plot of ‘Viswanath & Sons’ sounds fresh, the subplots are seen in many other movies. Scenes like a Hero caring for his stepsister and settling issues around her marriage are not new, but Venky Atluri scored points by filming those routine scenes without much melodrama. The first 30 minutes of the film are engaging, giving us the feel of Suriya’s past flick Ghajini and the Sanjay Ramaswamy character. At the same time, Mamitha Baiju’s mischievous girl role suits her to a T, and the twist given to her role is interesting. As the lead characters sound very good, the initial portions of ‘Viswanath & Sons’ sound promising, and Radhika Sarathkumar’s antics along with Mamitha’s energy make the first half fast-paced. Whenever Suriya appears on screen, he stuns with mesmerising screen presence. Without letting the age-gap factor dent the narrative, Venky Atluri handled the love story in a mature fashion. With elements that will be admired by youth, and loads of entertainment that impress the family audience, the first half sounds like a perfect blend.

The episode of the hero speaking in a TV show about the greatness of a ‘father’ indicates what’s coming in the next scenes of ‘Viswanath & Sons’. While this episode is meant to elevate the hero’s character, a couple more such episodes create an overdose. From the Ooty marriage episode, ‘Viswanath & Sons’ progresses in an old template only. After rejecting the heroine’s love, rather than pursuing that track, the movie deflects to the hero focusing on his sister’s issues, hitting the goons, uniting the family members- a kind of narrative. Keeping Mamitha’s character aside is a disappointment. But then, she was used effectively in the climax, while Suriya and Mamitha kept the climax alive with their performance. The fun factor blended with emotions is impressive. On the whole, ‘Viswanath & Sons’ impresses family audiences, while youths might get mixed feelings due to the slow-burn drama.

PERFORMANCES:

After impressing with his mass entertainment in Summer through Karuppu/Veerabhadrudu, Suriya has now impressed with a rainy-season special inside Viswanath & Sons. Adapting to the role flawlessly, acting with maturity, and living the character with subtlety, Suriya amazed again. His performance with his eyes is stunning in a few sequences. Also, his focus on Telugu dialogues is impressive too. Mamitha Baiju fits aptly into Maddy, which is a tailor-made character for her. Both in crazy fun scenes and serious scenes, she captivated attention. Radhika Sarathkumar brings fulfilment to the role of mother, in a film where she has an equal role to Suriya and Mamitha. Rather than dressing up her role with loads of sentiment, it’s also designed to be fun and active. Raveena Tandon’s role is also crucial, and she too did well. Sunil Reddy brings fun, while the artists are just okay.

TECHNICALITIES:

All the technical values inside ‘Viswanath & Sons’ are highly effective. GV Prakash’s background score worked out big time, unlike his songs. The pleasant score he gave enhanced the emotional appeal of the scenes. Nimish Ravi’s visuals are good. Sithara Entertainment’s production values are top-notch, as the film looks very rich. As a director-writer, Venky Atluri impressed with the feel-good factor. The way he wove the story around the pleasant elements and conceived them for the screen was commendable. He even impressed as a dialogue writer, with lines like ‘Manushulu Vidipoyedhi Godavala Valla Kaadu, Ah Godavala Tarvata Ela Matladalo Teliyaka’ touching hearts, and other lovely, fun dialogues. But he should have focused on writing and screenplay in the second half.

Finally: ‘Viswanath & Sons’, a feel-good film

Rating: 2.75/5