Unni Mukundan

Unnikrishnan Mukundan (born 22 September 1987), popularly known as Unni Mukundan, is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema.

Unni made his acting debut with the Tamil film '' Seedan'' (2011). After playing several small roles, Unni got his breakthrough with his lead role in Vysakh's action comedy ''Mallu Singh'' (2012). Later, he went on to star in several commercially successful films, including '' Vikramadithyan'' (2014), '' KL 10 Patthu'' (2015), ''Style'' (2016), '' Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya'' (2016), '' Achayans'' (2017), '' Malikappuram'' (2022) and ''Marco'' (2024), the last two emerged as his highest-grossing releases. Some of his best known non-Malayalam films are the Telugu film ''Janatha Garage'' (2016) and the Tamil film '' Garudan'' (2024).

In 2021, he won his first National Film Award as a producer for his debut production, '' Meppadiyan''.

Early life

Unni Mukundan was born in Thrissur, Kerala, on 22 September 1987 to Madathiparambil Mukundan Nair and Roji Mukundan. He did his schooling at Pragati Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad and graduated in English literature and Journalism at Prajyoti Niketan College, Pudukad (Thrissur). He was brought up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. During the early days of his career, he worked with Motif, now known as TTEC.

Career

Debut and breakthrough (2011–2013)

In 2011, Unni made his film debut with the Tamil film '' Seedan'', a remake of the Malayalam film ''Nandanam''. Unni entered the Malayalam film industry with '' Bombay March 12'' featuring alongside Mammootty, directed by Babu Janardhanan. For his performance in ''Bombay March 12'', he earned awards as best newcomer from SIIMA, Asianet Film Awards, Asiavision and Vanitha Film Awards. He played a supporting role in '' Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty'', directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar.

The turning point in his career came with the movie ''Mallu Singh'' (2012) directed by Vyshakh. It became a huge hit and ran for over 100 days. He did cameo appearances in movies '' Theevram'' and '' The Hitlist''. In the same year, he appeared in '' Ezham Suryan'' and '' I Love Me'' directed by B. Unnikrishnan.

In 2013 he appeared in '' Ithu Pathiramanal'' and ''Orissa,'' both directed by M. Padmakumar. Also he was seen in '' D Company'', an anthology of three independently shot action films.

In 2015, he was seen in supporting role in the Mammootty-starrer '' Fireman'', directed by Deepu Karunakaran. In the same year, he played the lead role in the movie '' Samrajyam II: Son of Alexander'' as Jordan, the son of Alexander who was the protagonist in the prequel. His next release was '' KL 10 Patthu'' written and directed by debutant Muhsin Parari.

In 2016, he did the action thriller movie ''Style'' which turned out to be a decent commercial entertainer. He was then seen in the critically acclaimed movie '' Kaattum Mazhayum'' and fantasy romantic comedy film '' Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya.''

Regional films (2014–2021)

Unni made his Tollywood debut with the film ''Janatha Garage'' in an antagonistic role as Raghava, son of Sathyam (Mohanlal). The film was both commercially successful and critically acclaimed. It was among the highest grossing Telugu films of the year.

In the 2017 film '' Achayans'', he made his debut as a lyricist and singer. In the same year, he was seen in another multi-starrer movie '' Avarude Raavukal'' along with Asif Ali which received mixed reviews. In August of the same year, ''Clint'' by director Harikumar was released, in which he played the role of Joseph, father of Edmund Thomas Clint, a child prodigy known for having drawn over 25,000 paintings during his short life of seven years. He was seen in two different looks as a 35-year old and a 73-year-old man in the film. For this film he received Ramu Kariat Movie Award for the Best Actor. His next releases of 2017 was Mammootty-starrer ''Masterpiece'' in which he played the villain and '' Tharangam'' in which he had an extended cameo.

In 2018, he did the Tamil-Telugu bilingual film '' Bhaagamathie'' featuring Anushka Shetty which was commercially successful and critically acclaimed. His next releases were two thriller movies '' Ira'' and '' Chanakyathanthram''. Both the films received positive reviews and were commercially successful.

His first release of 2019 was Haneef Adeni's '' Mikhael'', in which he was the antagonist Marco Jr. He was then seen in the film '' Meppadiyan'' which had a theatrical release on 14 January 2022. Later, he was seen in the Telugu film '' Khiladi''.

''Malikappuram'' and beyond (2022–present)

His next appearance was in '' Malikappuram'' which earned him critical acclaim and praise. In the Telugu film ''Yashoda'', he portrayed a negative role.

In 2024, he starred in ''Jai Ganesh'', which he also produced, and portrayed a negative character in the Tamil film, '' Garudan''. He next starred in ''Marco'', a spin-off of the eponymous character from ''Mikhael'' which opened to positive reviews, it emerged as a huge box-office success and also his first 100 crore film, further cementing his position as a bankable artist.

Other work

Unni launched his film production company Unni Mukundan Films (UMF) on 17 August 2020. Under this banner Unni Mukundan produced films: '' Meppadiyan'' (2022), '' Shefeekkinte Santhosham'' (2022), ''Jai Ganesh'' (2024) and ''Marco'' (2024).

Unni made his debut as a lyricist and singer with ''Achayans''.

Philanthropy

Unni sponsored road safety measures by appearing in the motor vehicle department's advertisements.

Filmography

*''Note: all films are in Malayalam, unless explicitly mentioned.''

Television

Discography

Awards

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukundan, Unni
Living people
Male actors from Kerala
Male actors in Telugu cinema
Male actors in Malayalam cinema
Indian male film actors
Male actors in Tamil cinema
1987 births
21st-century Indian male actors
South Indian International Movie Awards winners
Male actors from Thrissur