With the Jana Nayagan frenzy finally settling down, audiences have already began anticipating their next star's film, Suriya's Vishwanath and Sons. With more than two weeks left for the film's release, director Venky Atluri has already commenced promoting the upcoming romantic drama, also headlined by Mamitha Baiju.

In a recent interview, Venky spoke about the age gap between Suriya and Mamitha Baiju and why they zeroed down on it being 20 years. "Initially, we were thinking of making the age gap 18 years. But then we felt a number like 20 would have a stronger psychological impact. The difference between 18 and 19, and then 19 and 20, hits people differently. So we eventually made it 20. It was actually Suriya's call," he said in an interview with Sudhir Srinivasan.

Venky then addressed the backlash he faced for casting actors with such a wide age difference in the film. "When we announced the film during the puja in Hyderabad, we saw a flood of comments questioning the casting. Secretly, I was happy because I knew people would eventually get the answer," he explained.

However, the Vaathi director was confident of his decision. "Suriya kept showing me those comments and said, 'I'm just keeping you informed. People will be satisfied once we reveal the reason.' That happened on the day we released the teaser. After the teaser, the story made it clear. You can't have a problem with the casting anymore because there's a reason behind it. The casting was done that way to serve the story," he added.

Speaking about the kind of film Vishwanath and Sons would be, he continued, "I feel there are all kinds of stories to tell when it comes to people falling in love. We've been telling the same conventional love story over and over again, and I wanted to explore something different."

The film also stars Radikaa Sarathkumar, Raveena Tandon, Nasser, Sudha, Raghu Babu, Sunil Reddy, Bhavani Sri, Viva Harsha, Kaali Venkat, George Maryan, Hyper Aadhi, and more. The film is gearing up to open in theatres on August 14.