Movie: Vishwanath and Sons
Rating: 2.75/5
Banner: Sithara Entertainments
Cast: Suriya, Mamitha Baiju, Radhika Sarathkumar, Raveena Tandon, Harsha Chemudu and others
Music Director: G.V. Prakash Kumar
DOP: Nimish Ravi
Editor: Navin Nooli
Production Designer: Banglan
Producers: Suryadevara Naga Vamsi & Sai Soujanya
Written and Directed by: Venky Atluri
Release Date: August 14, 2026
Director Venky Atluri has delivered two successful films with non-Telugu stars, Dhanush and Dulquer Salmaan. His third film with a non-Telugu star, Vishwanath and Sons, features Suriya in the lead. The film also benefits from the buzz surrounding Suriya following the massive success of his recent film Karuppu.
Has Venky Atluri managed to work his magic for the third consecutive time? And has Suriya’s return to a classy role worked this time? Let’s find out.
Story
Sanjay Vishwanath (Suriya), a wealthy businessman, avoids marriage because of a painful childhood incident. However, his mother (Radhika) feels disappointed that their family may not have an heir to carry forward its legacy.
To fulfil his mother’s wish, Sanjay takes an unusual route and decides to have a child through surrogacy. The surrogate mother is Maddy (Mamitha Baiju), a medical student in San Francisco.
A few months after the birth of Abhay, Sanjay is forced to bring Maddy to India when the baby develops a rare medical condition and only his biological mother can provide the bone marrow required for treatment.
Maddy arrives in India and gradually becomes more involved with Sanjay’s family. She soon falls in love with Sanjay, but he does not reciprocate her feelings. He makes it clear that there can be no relationship between them beyond their existing arrangement.
But will things go according to Sanjay’s plans? How does his life change as Maddy becomes increasingly close to him and his family? That forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Suriya is in good form. He plays the role in a classy and composed manner and looks convincing as a wealthy businessman. His performance stands out particularly in an important emotional sequence in the second half.
Mamitha Baiju brings plenty of cheerfulness and energy with her antics in the first half. Her character, however, lacks depth in the second half. Still, she adds considerable value to this family drama.
Radhika Sarathkumar brings dignity to the role of a wealthy mother. Raveena Tandon, in a key role, is just okay.
Sunil Reddy, as Suriya’s brother-in-law, provides a few comic moments. Harsha Chemudu, Hyper Aadhi and others do not add much to the proceedings.
Technical Aspects
The film does not have many songs. Except for the “Butterfly” song, the rest of the music is dull.
The cinematography and production design look rich, but many portions give the feeling of being shot on sets rather than in natural locations. The lavishness is similar to what we usually see in Telugu family dramas centred around wealthy families.
Editor Navin Nooli, as in some of his other films, fails to trim several unnecessary and stretched-out scenes in the second half.
Highlights
Suriya’s charisma
Entertaining first half
Mamitha Baiju’s comic scenes
Drawbacks
Old-school melodrama in the second half
Lack of good songs
Ooty portions
Lengthy runtime
Analysis
Suriya has two distinct images — one as a mass action hero, which has given him successes such as the Singham series and Karuppu, and another as a classy romantic hero, seen in films like Suriya S/O Krishnan.
There are also films like Ghajini, which successfully blended both sides of his image. In that film, he played Sanjay Ramaswamy, a wealthy businessman who later becomes a man suffering from short-term memory loss and goes on an action-driven revenge mission.
Director Venky Atluri, however, presents Suriya mainly in the wealthy businessman avatar of Sanjay Ramaswamy in Vishwanath and Sons, even naming his character Sanjay Vishwanath.
Venky Atluri largely avoids mass elements and places Suriya in a family setup. In a way, the film reminds us of family dramas made with stars such as Pawan Kalyan and Vijay. The same template is used here, but with greater emphasis on an age-gap romance and family issues.
The film begins on a fun and breezy note, introducing Suriya as a man who has no interest in marriage but regularly travels abroad for casual relationships. He eventually chooses surrogacy to have a child.
The heroine’s introduction as the surrogate mother and her eventual return to the hero’s life are established within the first 20 minutes.
From there, the film becomes genuinely entertaining. The way Mamitha Baiju’s character changes the family dynamics, particularly when she reveals Suriya’s foreign trips, is handled with good humour.
Despite being slightly slow-paced, the first half works as a neatly packaged family drama.
However, the very first scene after the interval completely changes the film’s tone. The formulaic introduction of Hyper Aadhi’s character and the judge giving Mamitha’s character six months’ time feel straight out of a 1990s film.
From that point until the Ooty episode, almost everything feels artificial and poorly written.
Once the story shifts completely to Ooty, Suriya’s confrontation with a local leader strongly reminds us of Trivikram-style films, but the episode feels completely out of sync with the world established earlier.
There is also a lengthy track involving Nasser’s character that feels unnecessary and, at times, silly. These prolonged sequences seriously affect the film’s flow, while editor Navin Nooli does little to trim portions that clearly needed a tighter cut.
The climax is relatively better, but the second half remains largely formulaic and lacks the fun quotient that made the first half enjoyable.
The film has only two songs, and just one of them stands out. Instead of forcing in two or three routine fight sequences, the film could have benefited from better songs and more entertaining moments.
Overall, Vishwanath and Sons has its moments, particularly in the first half. The driver episode, the fun moments involving Suriya’s family and Mamitha Baiju, and the performances of the lead actors work well. However, the lengthy runtime, formulaic scenes and uneven second half prevent it from becoming a completely engaging family drama. Nevertheless, Vishwanath and Sons makes for a decent watch.
Bottom Line: Engaging
