Vishwanath & Son's Review: Suriya Carries a Weak, Dated Entertainer

Cast: Suriya, Mamitha Baiju, Radhika Sarathkumar, Raveena Tandon, Hyper Aadhi and others

Director: Venky Atluri

Rating: 1.5/5 stars

After playing a demigod in Karuppu, Suriya takes a sharply different route in Vishwanath & Son's, playing a wealthy business tycoon who is determined to remain a bachelor. Unfortunately, the film’s ambitious attempt to blend family drama, romance and social themes results in a contrived and largely disappointing outing.

Suriya plays a successful businessman who has little interest in marriage but shares a close bond with his mother (Radhika Sarathkumar), who constantly wishes to see him settle down and continue the family legacy. To fulfil her dream of having an heir, he opts for surrogacy. Mamitha Baiju enters the family as the surrogate mother and soon brings a fresh burst of energy into the otherwise formal household.

The story takes a predictable turn when Mamitha’s character falls in love with Suriya, who firmly rejects her feelings. What follows is an attempt to present their relationship as a mature love story, but the screenplay struggles to make the emotional equation convincing. The age difference and the way their relationship evolves often make the proceedings feel uncomfortable rather than moving.

Suriya delivers a solid performance and carries the film with his screen presence. Mamitha Baiju is the livewire of the film, bringing charm and spontaneity to her role, while Radhika Sarathkumar impresses as the affectionate mother. Raveena Tandon, however, has limited scope.

The film has a few warm moments, including a touching sequence involving Suriya and his ageing driver. But such moments are too few to rescue a screenplay weighed down by clichés. Director Venky Atluri seems to believe that making his protagonist a commitment-phobic businessman who casually dates foreign women is enough to make the character contemporary. Instead, the film feels stuck between an old-fashioned family drama and an attempt at a modern romantic narrative.

The subplot involving Suriya’s father, who is revealed to have shared his life between two families, is particularly forced. The courtroom track, with Hyper Aadhi taking legal action against Suriya and surrogacy laws becoming part of the discussion, adds little value. The sequences involving a committee monitoring the child’s welfare also feel unnecessarily stretched and fail to generate either humour or emotional impact.

Suriya struggles with the child and sleepless nights, do work a bit. What could have provided some light-hearted relief instead becomes another distraction from the central story.

The film begins on an interesting note, with Suriya shown winning an Olympic gold medal as a sharpshooter before going on to build a massive business empire. His character’s relationship with his mother provides the emotional foundation for the story, but the screenplay fails to build effectively on it.

Technically, Vishwanath & Son's looks lavish. The cinematography and production design give the film a rich visual texture, although several portions have the artificial feel of elaborate sets rather than lived-in locations. The grandeur is reminiscent of the wealthy-family settings commonly seen in Telugu family dramas.

The film also keeps its music relatively restrained. The Butterfly song stands out, but the rest of the songs fail to leave much of an impression.

Venky Atluri attempts to package a mature romance within a wealthy-family setting, while also touching upon surrogacy, marriage, and unconventional relationships. But the screenplay is overloaded with predictable comedy, fights, family conflicts, and convenient twists. The attempt to justify a complicated family structure ultimately feels forced rather than bold.

Suriya and Mamitha Baiju do their best to hold the film together. However, the dated writing and contrived storytelling make it a disappointing family drama despite its lavish presentation.