Tamil Superstar Suriya has teamed up with Venky Atluri for a film titled Vishwanath and Sons. Suriya is back in form with the super success of Karuppu and Venky Atluri is in a Supreme Form delivering back to back successes. The anticipation is very high on this combination as the Promotional Material carried good promise.
What is the Movie About?
Sanjay Vishwanath (Suriya) is a Successful Businessman and an Olympic Medal winner in Shooting. His mother (Radhika) pesters him to get married so that she can have a grandson and heir. Sanjay had an aversion to marriage for a reason and so decides to get a son using surrogacy. But the baby gets a life-threatening issue that brings their surrogate mother (Mamitha Baiju) into their lives. What happens next in their lives forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
Casting is the biggest positive for Vishwanath and Sons. Almost every actor fit into their roles seamlessly and came up with good performances. Suriya as Sanjay Vishwanath brought the required elegance to the role. He looked charming and came up with balanced and restrained performance. At many places, his screen presence in the film reminds us of Sanjay Ramaswamy character’s elegance from Ghajini. He looked cute and very charming.
Mamitha Baiju’s lively performance is the heart and soul of the film. She lit up the screen with her pleasant smile, innocence and very likeable performance. It is no exaggeration to say her performance in the film is unmissable. Both Mamitha and senior actress, Radhika, made almost every sequence in their combination, very entertaining. Radhika did a superb job with her performance. She got one more good role after, Thaai Kizhavi, earlier this year and she used it perfectly with a very good performance.
Raveena Tandon role made her presence felt with her elegant screen presence and came up with a good performance. The film had many notable actors in crucial roles and almost all of them did their parts well. Special mention to the young kid. He looked cute and very charming.
Technicalities:
GV Prakash Kumar’s music is good. He came up with a good song but a bit more care in background score and at least one more chartbuster song, would have enhanced the overall impact of the film.
Nimish Ravi’s Cinematography looked vibrant and gave a very pleasant look to the film. Editing by Naveen Nooli is very good in the first half and okaish in the second half. His work for the film is largely satisfactory. The production values by Sithara Entertainments were grand.
Positives:
1. Original & Breezy First Half
2. Mamitha Baiju’s Lively Act
3. Suriya’s Restrained Performance
4. Pleasant & Neat Humour
5. Radhika’s Episodes With Mamitha
Negatives:
1. Lack of Freshness In Second Half
2. Not So Touching Music
Analysis:
Since a long time in Telugu films, we have been used to seeing relationships between couples with a significant age difference, either portrayed in a sleazy manner or used by filmmakers to generate satirical or negative humour. However, Venky Atluri, took the concept of an elderly man and a young woman and came up with a breezy and clean entertainer. At no point do we feel uncomfortable with the proceedings on screen. What we get to see is real emotions, likable characters, neat humour and pleasant emotions throughout.
The first half of the film is entertaining and has its cute moments throughout. The second half slightly loses its flow at times, but the emotional parts are sure to hit the right chord with the family audience. The best thing about the film is that it never steps into the zone of melodrama. Venky Atluri has made sure to include many pleasant, funny, and heart-touching moments throughout the film. The moments between Suriya and Mamitha, the moments between Radhika and Mamitha, the kitchen sequence with Suriya and a few other sequences in the first half are immensely entertaining and ends up giving a very satisfactory feeling at the end of the first half. There is a sequence where Suriya’s character checks his mother’s phone and realises that her entire call list has only his name. This sequence to shows that the mother’s life is entirely revolves around her son and his well-being. Venky Atluri deserves to be appreciated for coming up with many such heartwarming sequences that talks about human relationships and bindings. He also deserves to be appreciated for touching the concepts of surrogacy, flings, etc. and narrating them in a very mature and balanced manner.
The second half of the film too has its share of feel good and heart touching moments at regular intervals but it lacks the freshness that the first half makes us feel. Raveena Tandon and Nazar’s plots brought the required emotional depth but these episodes gives the feeling of ‘have seen it before’. However, Venky Atluri’s sensible and thought-provoking dialogue writing skills, relatable humane emotions and the performances of the actors made the second half largely satisfying. A breezy entertainer like Vishwanath and Sons, deserves to have soul stirring music to enhance the overall impact. G. V. Prakash Kumar’s music for the film was decent but a bit more impactful music and background score would have elevated the overall experience to the next level.
Overall, Vishwanath and Sons is a satisfying film with plenty of feel-good moments that are sure to touch everyone. And, Venky Atluri was right, the film indeed will leave you with a smile on your face throughout. He deserved to be appreciated for handling and narrating a sensible topic in a very elegant manner and without making it uncomfortable to watch.