Vishwanath & Sons was not the first story that director Venky Atluri narrated to Suriya. Before approaching the actor with the family entertainer, the Vaathi filmmaker had pitched another story to him, which Suriya turned down. The actor eventually went on to choose Vishwanath & Sons.
In a recent interview with Cineulagam, Venky Atluri revealed what he had in store for Suriya before Vishwanath & Sons and why Suriya refused to act in it. "I initially wanted to make a biopic with Suriya. It was a period film like my earlier projects. It was set 30-40 years before the current time. My last two films Vaathi and Lucky Baskhar, both are of the same genre. I was too scared of entering into monotony," he shared.
He further added that Suriya also wanted to avoid that story had influences of Jai Bhim and Soorarai Pottru. "He was questioning whether fans really wanted another biopic from him. Besides, he also wanted to make a family drama. He has always balancing his projects and its genres, but somehow, he felt it kept repeating for him. So, he wanted to do a happy family film as a tribute for his fans who had always supported him. While he loved the idea of my biopic, there were complications regarding rights and the timeline, but he once again stressed on the importance of doing a breezy, family story," he explained.
The recently-released trailer of Vishwanath & Sons revealed Suriya's character as a competitive and driven Sanjay Vishwanath (Suriya), who is goes on to win the gold medal for pistol shooting at the Paris 2024 Olympics. When his only child is diagnosed with a grave health problem, it prompts Sanjay to reconnect with his child's surrogate mother (Mamitha Baiju), with whom he is hesitant to build a relationship with, in fear of it breaking down.
Besides Suriya and Mamitha Biju, the film also stars Radikaa Sarathkumar, Raveena Tandon, Nasser, Sudha, Raghu Babu, Sunil Reddy, Bhavani Sri, Viva Harsha, Kaali Venkat, George Maryan, Hyper Aadhi, Srija Ravi, Sarvadaman Banerjee, Mathew Varghese, Kalyani Natarajan, Karate Karthik, and Master Charvik.
Vishwanath & Sons is slated for release in theatres on August 14 where it will clash with Vishal's Magudam.
