It has been a long journey to realise his dreams and Unni Mukundan has seen the troughs more often than the crests in his career. But that has only given him the added impetus to try harder and ultimately nothing succeeds like success. Vikramadithyan was a shot in the arm for this actor which gave him a new lease of life. He cannot thank director Lal Jose enough for the role that made him a household name.
Unni says, “I did films with poor production values and after the film Orissa I almost thought that my career was over! I was not getting any good offers and the films I did were not getting good responses. It was at this lean phase in my career when Lal Jose offered me Vikramadithyan which was a turning point in my career. That became a hit as also the Mammootty starrer Fireman after that.” He has upcoming films like Style, Kaatum Mazhayum and KL 10.
Yet again, Lal Jose has been his messiah as the Lal Jose’s banner will be producing Unni’s upcoming film KL 10 directed by Muhsin Parari. Unni reveals, “I shared the script with Lal sir and he immediately decided to produce the film. He gave me a token amount from his own pocket which literally teared me up. If the film is creating hype right now, it is a big thanks to the LJ banner. For me Lal sir is my unsung hero and I am so happy that there are selfless people like him who are ready to invest in new directors and I really want this film to succeed so that he can support more deserving people coming into the industry.”
About KL 10, he says, “The story is set in Malappuram and is a beautiful love story against a football background. I play Ahmed who is an avid footballer and this is simple romantic family story. I am playing a footballer for the first time as well as talking in the Malappuram slang.”
Playing the part of a footballer had Unni doing his homework and he says, “I wanted to make my role look very authentic and wanted to mimic the body language of a footballer. So I learnt to dribble a football as well as juggle it and I managed to juggle it fifty times. I shed my entire muscle mass for the movie and I wanted to achieve a lean and mean look befitting a footballer.” Hope all this pays off with the film scoring a ten at the box office.
