Approach to writing
Before discussing Vishwanath & Sons, which marks Suriya’s return to the romantic drama genre after more than a decade, Venky reflects on what made Lucky Baskhar resonate with audiences. The Dulquer Salmaan-starrer, set against the backdrop of banking fraud, became one of 2024’s biggest Telugu hits.Suriya and Mamitha Baiju in the film | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Early inspirations
Venky counts legendary filmmakers K Balachander,
Venky made his directorial debut with Tholi Prema in 2018. Although he followed it with two more romances before branching into other genres, audiences continued to associate him with love stories. “People kept asking me when I’d make another film like Tholi Prema,” he says. “The first draft of that film was written in 2013. It would be difficult for me to write that kind of romance today. But I had this idea of an age-gap relationship and wanted to tell a more mature love story. I just started writing, one page at a time.”May-December romances
Vishwanath & Sons stars Suriya as a 40-year-old man andVishwanath & Sons marks Suriya’s return to the family drama space | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement Asked if he had Suriya in mind while writing the script, Venky smiles. “I never keep my hopes high while writing because I still fear rejection. I’ve admired Suriya sir since Kaakha Kaakha and Ghajini, and I’ve always felt he thinks ahead of his time. He believed in this story because it offered a pleasant change after the mass entertainer Karuppu. I’m happy I could bring him back to a breezy family drama after 13 or 14 years.”
He also reunited with much of the Lucky Baskhar technical team, including cinematographer Nimish Ravi and production designer Banglan. “Neither of them had worked on a romance drama before, so this gave them something fresh to explore.”
With Vishwanath & Sons set for a bilingual release on August 14, Venky describes the film as a calculated risk at a time when action entertainers continue to dominate the post-pandemic box office.
“But we’ve also seen clutter-breakers succeed in both Telugu and Tamil cinema recently,” he says. “From a business perspective, we were clear about our budget. We spent what the story demanded and didn’t go overboard just because we had a big star.”