Unni Mukundan’s career has been soaring like never before with Tollywood welcoming him to its fold with two plum offers — Janatha Garage with superstar Mohanlal and Bhagmati opposite Anushka Shetty. Even while he has been busy shooting for his Telugu film, his Malayalam film Achayans has been progressing smoothly. Not content with only acting, Unni has now trained his sights at being a lyricist as well as singer. The excited actor gushes, “I have done my first playback singing for Achayans and have also penned the lyrics along with music director Ratheesh Vega.” The song is a melodious number picturised on Unni and Sshivada.
The opportunity to croon a number in Achayans was not a planned one but something which developed at a get-together. Unni explains, “The second schedule of the film had called for a pack up and producer Padmakumar and director Kannan Thamarakulam had organised a party for the entire cast and crew with singing and jamming. I happened to sing a number which Ratheesh liked and he informed me that Achayans had a song which he thought I could sing. I decided to do it and sat down and wrote the lyrics along with Ratheesh and recorded it the day before yesterday.” Not being a professional singer, how difficult was it to croon a melody?
“Admittedly it was difficult,” Unni replies. “Getting the shruti and thalam right was difficult but Ratheesh gave me some secret tips to get the breathing part correct. After I finished the recording, he said that I could pursue singing as a full-time career; so I hope it turned out good.” Unni made a dummy version of the song without any music and sent it to his close friends and relatives for their comments and evaluation and only then did he attempt singing. Incidentally, Achayans stars Jayaram and Prakash Raj and Unni plays the role of a rich brat who turns an alcoholic. Waiting in line are his releases Avarude Raavukal and a Mammootty film with Sethu where he springs another surprise. “I will be turning an associate director in this film.” Wow, Unni is surely keeping himself busy!
