Mukundan Unni Associates

Insight into the actions and inner monologues of a cold-blooded psychopath. (This is a genre which is not really explored in Indian Cinema, at least not as an attribute of the lead).

The strong point of the movie is the editing, direction and acting (especially Vineeth).

Mukundan Unni as the opening says is not Grey, but Black ! He is a true pyschopath - unapologetic, unremorseful, coldblooded killer. He is true wolf, not a Hyena in sheeps cloth !

The movie proceeds in an almost thriller manner and really just shines light on the characters without really taking any real moral stands.

Deserves a watch.

Mukundan unni associates gives a very nightcrawler vibes, but pitches the characters brutality to next level.

A character with no emotional change or arc is something i really enjoy. The movie tries to establish this character who tries to go to any extent for success and Vineeth Sreenivasan plays the character amazingly. The basic theme of the movie is that there are only two types of people in the world, "one who exploits and the one who is exploited". The movie establishes this theme nicely. The extensive use of voiceovers is something new and not used much in Malayalam cinema, but they uses it consistently to work amazing black humor and it also connects the audience much more to the characters psyche.

After a point i never felt rooting for Vineeth Sreenivasan's character as they stretched his brutality a bit too much but did not create enough empathy towards the character to support that.

A nice and different movie.

Going into the film, after hearing about the movie a lot and from the trailers, it seemed Vineeth was playing a hilarious sociopath and that was the part I was most apprehensive about. Even though I liked his role in Thanneermathan, I wasn't ready to watch a full-blown version of that throughout a movie, which would be unbearable and what I feared. But that wasn't the case here. Vineeth was brilliant and played the character to perfection, very different from anything we've seen him before.

Mukundan Unni is wickedly brilliant in his own way but the major problem along with his lack of empathy is the narcissism that always makes him overestimate himself. As a character, Mukundan Unni is pure evil, but his overestimation of himself makes him appealing. He is ready to put in the hard work but he doesn't see his flaws due to his narcissism and lack of empathy. So, even when his plans are logically right, it doesn't always work but he can form a new one right then and one or the other works out and if there is no luck there, there's actual luck that itself is a domino effect of his own past actions. All these aspects are seen through his own eyes and tight editing and a few cinematic techniques in the narrative keep you engaged throughout the affair. But giving such an evil character such heroic moments may get out of hand or even if it isn't, it's still an outlook from his point of view and that's why I loved how the movie ends. It clearly shows what is right and wrong to the audience and how we should be looking at evil even when it is pleasing to us and yet the voice-over narration by the protagonist tells the exact opposite of it.

Besides clearly positioning itself as a dark comedy through a sociopath, the film actually showcases a lot of legal and ethical issues in our society in detail.

One particular scene that is not directly related to any event in the movie but contains the whole theme of the movie, hell the whole concept of success in the world is when the character Meenakshi talks to Jyothi. To some, it would be just greed talking and they would have to face karma, to some, it would be a moment of motivation even if it is in a wrong sense but that dialogue is the truth about the world. I won't say what that dialogue is but another dialogue by Mukundan Unni, which is part of the trailers and promotions makes the perfect companion dialogue to it, "There are only two kinds of people in the world, those who get exploited and those who are exploiters."

Not including any songs, starting off with 4:3 aspect ratio, later changing to 16:9 and then finally filling the theater screen and then adding a post-credit scene that's perfectly in sync with the character, the director really knows what he's doing and the changing sensibilities among Malayali audience.

Mukundan unni associates, now this is a movie that will standout.. it's so dark or one can say dark comedy, haven't seen any movie like this in malayalam.. a movie that comes to my mind is the movie parasite, that one was on another level of dark theme... Both are not comparable ! But that's the only movie that came to my mind after watching mukundan unni associates. Some aspects of the movie felt creepy real and others felt like too fictional. Apart from the theme excellent performance from vineeth sreenivasan, movie has perfect casting, script, etc.. It's was worth the watch, you can decide for yourself go ahead and watch it !

Imagine a movie featuring Sreenivasan's ultra-despicable character "Viswanathan" from "Mukunthetta Sumitra Vilikkunnu (1988)" as the main protagonist? That is exactly the wacky idea with which editor turned director Abhinav Sundar Nayak has conceived the immensely enjoyable black comedy "Mukundan Unni Associates" that throws caution to the wind and delivers a laugh riot sans any moral sermons or lessons about karma.

Vineeth Sreenivasan stars as a Machiavellian lawyer who stars venturing into ambulance chasing on realizing that conventional methods will not give him the success that he so craves. Standing in his way is veteran ambulance chaser Advocate Venu (a superb Suraj Venjaramoodu) and a host of other roadblocks which he looks to circumvent in typically diabolical ways. The way the director uses fourth-wall breaking and inner monologues to take the narrative forward is nothing short of genius and it is through this that he delivers most of the zany comedy in the film.

The casting is spot on throughout the film, with even minor characters playing their part to perfection, especially Tanvi Ram, George Kora, Sudhi Koppa and a fine Arsha Chandini Baiju, who had earlier caught the eye in the Karikku web series "Average Ambili". The writing from the director himself and co-writer Vimal Gopalakrishnan never let the tension and humor let up, carrying both forward with equal aplomb and even manage deliver some jarring surprises just when we think the film's climax is starting to meander along expected lines.

Just when Basil Joseph was starting to stake a claim for the title of this generation's "Sreenivasan" with his immense performance in "Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey", Vineeth Sreenivasan produces the goods in "Mukundan Unni Associates", turning in a performance his dad would have been proud of. This is the fourth-wall breaking meta dark comedy that we didn't know we deserved and is, needless to say, highly recommended!