# Unni Mukundan

Unnikrishnan Mukundan (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 was born in Thrissur, Kerala, on 22 September 1987 to Malayali parents Madathiparambil Mukundan Nair and Roji Mukundan. He completed his schooling from Pragati Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad and graduated in English literature and journalism from 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.

## 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 (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 (2014–2021)

Unni made his Tollywood debut with the film Janatha Garage in an antagonistic role as Raghava, son of Sathyam (Mohanlal). 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 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 (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

Key :
| † | Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released |
* Note: all films are in Malayalam, unless explicitly mentioned.
List of film credits :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2011 | Seedan | Mano Ramalingam | Tamil film; Credited as Jai Krishna |
| 2011 | Bombay March 12 | Shahjahan | |
| 2011 | Bangkok Summer | Madhavan | |
| 2012 | Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty | Suryan | |
| 2012 | Mallu Singh | Hari Narayan (Hareender Singh) | |
| 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 (Vikraman) | |
| 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-Malayalam, 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 | Mindiyum Paranjum † | Sanal | |

### Television

List of Unni Mukundan television credits :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2020 | Ente Narayanikku | Aravind a.k.a. Basheer | Short film (voiceover) |
| 2022 | Eureka 21 | Williams | Cameo in final episode |
| 2023 | Muttathe Mulla | Ayyapadas | TV serial; Cameo |

## Discography

List of Unni Mukundan film credits as a playback singer :
| Year | Film | Song | Composer(s) | Notes |
| 2017 | Achayans | "Anuraagam Puthumazha Pole" | Ratheesh Vega | |
| 2018 | Chanakya Thanthram | "Etho Vazhithaarayil" | Shaan Rahman | |
| 2018 | Oru Kuttanadan Blog | "Chaarathu Nee" | Sreenath Sivasankaran | |
| 2020 | Shylock | "Ektha Boss" | Prakash Alex | |
| 2021 | Meppadiyan | "Ayyappa Song" | Vinayak Sasikumar | |
| 2021 | Ente Narayanikku | "Thodathe" | Arun Muraleedharan | Short film |
| 2022 | Shefeekkinte Santhosham | "Khalbile Hoori" | Shaan Rahman | |
List of Unni Mukundan film credits as a lyricist :
| Year | Film | Song | Composer(s) | Notes | Ref. |
| 2017 | Achayans | "Anuraagam Puthumazha Pole" | Ratheesh Vega | | |
| 2021 | Vidhi | "Ho Jaane De" | Saanand George Grace | | |

## Awards

List of Unni Mukundan awards :
| Year | Award | Category | Film |
| 2011 | Asianet Film Awards | Best New Face of the year | Bombay March 12 |
| 2011 | Asiavision Movie Awards | Best Promising Newcomer | Bombay March 12 |
| 2011 | Vanitha Film Awards | Best New Face | Bombay March 12 |
| 2011 | Jaihind TV Film Awards | Best Newcomer of the year | Bombay March 12 |
| 2011 | Amrita TV Film Awards | Best Debut actor | Bombay March 12 |
| 2011 | South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Debut Actor (Malayalam) | Bombay March 12 |
| 2013 | Pravasi Express Awards | Youth Icon | Mallu Singh |
| 2017 | Anand TV Awards 2017 UK | Youth Icon | Achayans |
| 2017 | Red fm Malayalam Music Awards 2017 | Best Star singer | Achayans |
| 2017 | Ramu Kariat Movie Awards | Best Actor | Clint |
| 2019 | Creative Film Awards | Best Actor in negative role | Mikhael |
| 2020 | Ramu Karyat award | Best second actor | Mamankam |
| 2020 | Asianet Film Awards | Youth Icon | Mamankam, Mikhael |
| 2022 | 13th JC Daniel Foundation Awards | Best Actor (Jury Award) | Meppadiyan |
| 2022 | Adoor NRI Forum Kuwait Chapter - Adoor Bhasi Puraskaram | Best Actor | Meppadiyan |
| 2022 | Ramu Kariat Movie Awards | Best Actor | Meppadiyan and Shefeekinte Santhosham |
| 2021 | 69th National Film Awards | Best film of a debut director | Meppadiyan (Producer) |
| 2023 | 11th South Indian International Movie Awards | Nominated – Best Actor in a Negative Role – Telugu | Yashoda |