Unni Mukundan
Unnikrishnan Mukundan, 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. After playing several small roles, Unni got his breakthrough with his lead role in Vysakh's action comedy Mallu Singh. Later, he went on to star in several commercially successful films, including Vikramadithyan, KL 10 Patthu, Style, Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya, Achayans, Malikappuram and Marco, the last two emerged as his highest-grossing releases. Some of his best known non-Malayalam films are the Telugu film Janatha Garage and the Tamil film Garudan.
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. 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 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. The film was both commercially successful and critically acclaimed. It was among the Telugu films">Telugu language">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 on 17 August 2020. Under this banner Unni Mukundan produced films: Meppadiyan, Shefeekkinte Santhosham, Jai Ganesh and Marco.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.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
| 2011 | Seedan | Mano Ramalingam | Tamil film; Remake of Nandanam Credited as Jai Krishna | |
| 2011 | Bombay March 12 | Shahjahan | ||
| 2011 | Bangkok Summer | Madhavan | ||
| 2012 | Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty | Suryan | ||
| 2012 | Mallu Singh | Hari Narayan | ||
| 2012 | Ezham Suryan | Chitrabhanu | ||
| 2012 | Theevram | Himself | Guest appearance | |
| 2012 | The Hitlist | SI Ajay Kumar | Cameo appearance | |
| 2012 | I Love Me | Savy | ||
| 2013 | Ithu Pathiramanal | Eldho | ||
| 2013 | Orissa | Christhuraj | ||
| 2013 | D Company | Sarath | Segment: Gangs of Vadakkumnathan | |
| 2014 | The Last Supper | Alby | ||
| 2014 | Vikramadithyan | Vikram Shenoy | ||
| 2014 | RajadhiRaja | Bridegroom | Cameo appearance | |
| 2015 | Fireman | Shahjahan | ||
| 2015 | Samrajyam II: Son of Alexander | Jordan Alexander | ||
| 2015 | KL 10 Patthu | Ahmad | ||
| 2016 | Style | Tom | ||
| 2016 | Janatha Garage | Raghava Sathyam | Telugu film | |
| 2016 | Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya | Prakashan | ||
| 2017 | Achayans | Tony Vavachan | ||
| 2017 | Avarude Raavukal | Siddharth Gopan | ||
| 2017 | Clint | Joseph | ||
| 2017 | Tharangam | Reghu | Cameo appearance | |
| 2017 | Masterpiece | ACP John Thekkan IPS | ||
| 2018 | Ira | Rajiv IPS | ||
| 2018 | Bhaagamathie | Shakthi | Telugu-Tamil, Bilingual film | |
| 2018 | Chanakya Thanthram | Arjun Ram Mohan | ||
| 2019 | Mikhael | Marco D'Peter Jr. | ||
| 2019 | My Great Grandfather | Sam Christy | Cameo appearance | |
| 2019 | Pathinettam Padi | Ajith Kumar IAS | Cameo appearance | |
| 2019 | Mamangam | Chandroth Panicker | ||
| 2021 | Bhramam | CI Dinesh Prabhakar | ||
| 2022 | Meppadiyan | Jayakrishnan | Also producer | |
| 2022 | Bro Daddy | Dr. Cyril | ||
| 2022 | 12th Man | Zachariah | ||
| 2022 | Khiladi | Rama Krishna | Telugu film | |
| 2022 | Pyali | Miska Saha Salman | Cameo appearance | |
| 2022 | Yashoda | Dr. Gautham | Telugu film | |
| 2022 | Shefeekkinte Santhosham | Shefeek | Also producer and playback singer | |
| 2022 | Malikappuram | CPO D. Ayyappadas | ||
| 2023 | Kadhikan | Superintendent of juvenile home | ||
| 2024 | Jai Ganesh | Ganeshan | Also producer | |
| 2024 | Garudan | Karuna | Tamil film | |
| 2024 | Marco | Marco D'Peter | Also producer | |
| 2025 | Get-Set Baby | Arjun Balakrishnan | ||
| 2025 | Mehfil | Vijay Bhaskar | ||
| 2025 | Mindiyum Paranjum | Sanal | ||
| 2026 | Narendrabhai Damodardas Modi | Hindi film |
Discography
| Year | Film | Song | Composer | Notes | |
| 2017 | Achayans | "Anuraagam Puthumazha Pole" | Ratheesh Vega | ||
| 2021 | Vidhi | "Ho Jaane De" | Saanand George Grace |