Unni Mukundan

Unnikrishnan Mukundan Nair (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. He is a supporter of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Career Debut and breakthrough (2011–2016) 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 (2016–2021) Unni made his Telugu debut with the film Janatha Garage in an negative role portraying Mohanlal's son. 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 Telugu-Tamil 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. + List of film credits Year Title Role Notes 2011 SeedanMano RamalingamTamil film;Credited as Jai Krishna Bombay March 12 Shahjahan Bangkok Summer Madhavan 2012 Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty Suryan Mallu Singh Hari Narayan (Hareender Singh) Ezham Suryan Chitrabhanu Theevram Himself Guest appearance The Hitlist SI Ajay Kumar Cameo appearance I Love Me Savy 2013 Ithu Pathiramanal Eldho Orissa Christhuraj D Company Sarath Segment: Gangs of Vadakkumnathan 2014 The Last Supper Alby Vikramadithyan Vikram Shenoy (Vikraman) RajadhiRaja Bridegroom Cameo appearance 2015 Fireman Shahjahan Samrajyam II: Son of Alexander Jordan Alexander KL 10 Patthu Ahmad 2016 Style Tom Janatha GarageRaghava Sathyam Telugu film Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya Prakashan 2017 Achayans Tony Vavachan Avarude Raavukal Siddharth Gopan Clint Joseph Tharangam Reghu Cameo appearance Masterpiece ACP John Thekkan IPS 2018 Ira Rajiv IPS Bhaagamathie Shakthi Telugu-Tamil bilingual film Chanakya Thanthram Arjun Ram Mohan 2019 Mikhael Marco D'Peter Jr. My Great Grandfather Sam Christy Cameo appearance Pathinettam Padi Ajith Kumar IAS Mamangam Chandroth Panicker 2021 Bhramam CI Dinesh Prabhakar 2022 Meppadiyan Jayakrishnan Also producer Bro Daddy Dr. Cyril 12th Man Zachariah Khiladi Rama KrishnaTelugu film Pyali Miska Saha Salman Cameo appearance YashodaDr. Gautham Telugu film Shefeekkinte Santhosham Shefeek Also producer and playback singer Malikappuram CPO D. Ayyappadas 2023 Kadhikan Superintendent of juvenile home 2024 Jai Ganesh Ganeshan Also producer Garudan Karuna Tamil film Marco Marco D'Peter Also producer 2025 Get-Set Baby Arjun Balakrishnan Mehfil Vijay Bhaskar Mindiyum Paranjum Sanal 2027 Narendra Damodardas Modi Hindi film

Dubbing roles Film title Actor Character Dub language Original language Original year release Dub year release NotesHe-Man and the Masters of the UniverseNicholas GalitzinePrince Adam / He-ManMalayalamEnglish20262026

Television + List of Unni Mukundan television credits Year Title Role Notes 2020 Ente Narayanikku Aravind Basheer Short film (voiceover) 2022 Eureka 21 Williams Cameo in final episode 2023 Muttathe Mulla Himself TV serial; Cameo

Discography + Year Film Song Composer(s) Notes 2017 Achayans "Anuraagam Puthumazha Pole" Ratheesh Vega 2018 Chanakya Thanthram "Etho Vazhithaarayil" Shaan Rahman Oru Kuttanadan Blog "Chaarathu Nee" Sreenath Sivasankaran 2020 Shylock "Ektha Boss" Prakash Alex2021 Meppadiyan "Ayyappa Song" Vinayak Sasikumar Ente Narayanikku "Thodathe" Arun Muraleedharan Short film 2022 Shefeekkinte Santhosham "Khalbile Hoori" Shaan Rahman

+ Year Film Song Composer(s) Notes 2017 Achayans "Anuraagam Puthumazha Pole" Ratheesh Vega 2021 Vidhi "Ho Jaane De" Saanand George Grace

Awards