Review of “Viswanath and Sons”

Suriya’s latest movie, Viswanath & Sons has crossed 100 crores at the global box-office and has enjoyed overwhelmingly positive reviews from most film critics. Directed by Venki Atluri – the director of Vaathi and Lucky Beggar – the film boasts an impressive cast that includes Mamitha Baiju, Radhika Sarathkumar, Raveena Tandon, Sunil Reddy, Nassar, Kalyani Natarajan, Kaali Venkat, George Maryan, Shah Ra, Bjorn Surrao, Deepa Shankar, Bhavani Sre, Rajiv Menon and Raghu Babu.

This high-budget film looks at some controversial issues and aspects of modern living in a light-hearted way, changing what uses to be the formula for family-based films. Many would welcome the change as a sign of progress and modernity while others – like this reviewer – would be uncomfortable about normalising deviant behaviour.

Viswanath (Suriya) is a wealthy and successful businessman who is also an Olympic gold medallist. His mother, Nirmala Devi (Radhika Sarathkumar) is constantly nagging him about his decision to never marry. Her various attempts at coaxing, cajoling and emotional blackmailing leads to nothing, until Viswanath finds a way to appease his mother and still retail his independence, but his decision has far-reaching consequences and repercussions.

Viswanath and Sons is filmed, scripted and directed like a TV serial. The script – penned by K.N. Vjayakumar – is only there to move the uneventful and predictable story along and the characters are only fleshed out enough to move the slow-paced screenplay. It does not help that the major sets look too much like sets.

Given this limitation, there is very little to offer in terms of acting. Suriya looks decidedly out of place, often awkward and essentially just a shadow of the versatile actor he used to be.

National award-winning actress, Radhika Sarathkumar, whose current acting prowess was evident in her recent role in Thaai Kizhavi, is unable to escape the tight confines of her role as Viswanath’s mother.

Even seasoned and talented stars like Nassar, Kaali Venkat, Sunil Reddy, Deepa Shankar or Shah Ra are unable to show any evidence of their vast acting repertoire. Raveena Tandon as Anjali Viswanath and Bhavani Sre as Meghana show short-lived signs of promise.

The only saving grace in terms of acting comes from a bubbly, energetic, intense and credible portrayal by Mamitha Baiju who, with each successive role, keeps reminding audiences about what a talented actress she is.

Nimish Ravi’s cinematography is probably the most embarssing effort of 2026 thus far, with his shots, framing and lighting all looking like they belong to a day-time serial than a big-budget movie.

This is not G.V. Prakash Kumar’s best effort in the background score and only Pattam Poochi is memorable of the film’s songs.

The action sequences by V. Venkat are embarrassingly bad and is a further blight on an already flawed film.

Viswanath & Sons scores 5 points out of 10.