Actor Suriya recently pushed back against the film industry’s growing obsession with opening-weekend collections, arguing that the real measure of a film’s success lies in what audiences carry with them after they leave the theatre.

“Success can’t be measured with number of tickets sold. What happens to the conversations after the film? What happens to the emotions people carry after the film? What happens to the tears, the smiles? All these emotions can’t be put in a balance sheet,” Suriya told the audience at the success meet of his film Vishwanath and Sons on Saturday.

He did not dismiss the business side of filmmaking. “Business, of course. Money is very, very important,” he said, adding, “But this kind of emotion which you might talk about after two years, that is very, very important.”

Suriya also used the event to credit director Venky Atluri for proving that family films still have a place in mainstream cinema. “Once again, you are reminding everyone that family-oriented films are important and that this art form still has a special place in people’s hearts,” he said, addressing Atluri directly.

The actor also added that there are 25 shows extra in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, compared to all the other states. “You’ve owned the film,” he said, addressing his Telugu audience.

Filmmaker Trivikram Srinivas, who attended the success meet as the chief guest, heaped praise on Suriya’s performance and revealed that he had tried to collaborate with the actor in the past but could not make it happen. “I had a plan to work with Suriya in the past but it did not materialise. I could not impress him with a script,” Trivikram said, adding, “I will soon do a film with Suriya after impressing him.” The comment drew loud cheers from the audience and immediately set off speculation about a potential Suriya-Trivikram project.

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At a pre-release event earlier in the week, Suriya had already acknowledged Trivikram’s involvement in Vishwanath and Sons, saying the filmmaker had blessed and supported the project “from the pooja days till now” and calling it his “Midas touch.” He had added that Venky Atluri had taken “a lot of inspiration from Trivikram Garu.”

What is Vishwanath and Sons about?

Vishwanath and Sons, directed by Venky Atluri, tells the story of Sanjay Vishwanath, a former international pistol shooter in his 40s whose life takes an unexpected turn when his infant son needs a bone marrow transplant. The search for a donor leads him to Maddy, a free-spirited woman in her 20s played by Mamitha Baiju, and what begins as an unlikely friendship gradually develops into something deeper, with the age gap between them becoming a source of tension within his family.