Unni Mukundan says he ‘does not want’ Mollywood to follow the pan-Indian trend; ‘I would rather try…’

Marco star Unni Mukundan claimed how going pan-Indian would be a burden for Malayalam cinema at this point in time. Read on.

By Srijony Das

Published on Feb 04, 2025 | 05:13 PM IST | 6.2K

Unni Mukundan claims pan-Indian trend is a burden for Malayalam cinema; here’s why (PC: Unni Mukundan on IG)

Unni Mukundan soared to immense fame recently when his film Marco achieved momentous success and received fame nationwide. Despite being a Malayalam cinema, it ended up being touted as the most violent Indian film ever witnessed, grabbing attention from mainstream Hindi audiences as well. Amid such recognition, the actor now reveals why he absolutely doesn’t want Mollywood to follow the pan-Indian trend.

Speaking with OTTPlay recently, Unni Mukundan expressed being skeptical about the success of the Malayalam cinema at large if it were now to follow the pan-India trend full-fledgedly. In contrast, the actor cited his dismissal of such a fate for his own regional language cinema.

Explaining his reasons, Unni mentioned how if Mollywood, at this point in time, were to focus just on making pan-Indian films, they would only focus on business and on the plans to make it large, thereby neglecting art and storytelling, which are non-negotiable for any film.

In his words, “I don’t want the entire industry to now follow that trend. It’s not the right way. Making a film to fulfill market requirements means that you are eyeing 50% of the business and only giving your 50% to art.”

When Unni Mukundan was asked about his own take on how Malayalam cinema should move ahead in the way of progression, the actor mentioned how he, as a person, prefers to make films on his own terms and without any compromise whatsoever, considering the norm of the time.

Taking the example of his last released film, Marco, he said, “I would rather try to make a film that I like the way I want and hope that it functions exactly how Marco did,” he stated. Unni Mukundan clarified that Marco was never intended for a pan-Indian audience. “We made a film, let it go to the market, and it traveled. That’s the best way.”

On the work front, Unni Mukundan’s Marco was recently announced for its OTT streaming from February 14 onwards on SonyLIV. Meanwhile, he has two other films in the pipeline, Get Set Baby and Mindiyum Paranjum.