The team behind Mukundan Unni Associates, the film that put Vineeth Sreenivasan in a very unusual role, has clearly done a lot of preparation to present their lead character. Mukundan Unni, an advocate always seen in the clean white clothes of a lawyer-on-call, almost as if to contrast the dark thoughts we hear him think, even has an actual Instagram page. Vineeth Sreenivasan is unrecognisable as he plays this most cunning man with zero feelings for anyone other than himself. The film, which stands out in more ways than one, is the debut of editor Abhinav Sunder Nayak as director.
Before you begin watching the film, you have got to keep your judgemental thoughts away. This is not a film that tells right from wrong or bats for good over evil. This is the story of a heartless, unloving man with no principles, no ounce of mercy, nothing humane. He is presented as such and makes no attempts to polish any of his many underhanded acts. You will probably want to hit him with a bulldozer, but if he manages to emerge from it alive, he is going to make a case for an insurance claim and ask you to join him in turning it into an accident so you both get money out of it. Then he will probably kill you and take your share too.
For the longest time, Mukundan Unni did try to make it as a lawyer in the ways advised by motivational essays. But when he turned 36 and could no longer hide his age, Mukundan began looking at other ways. That is when he comes across Venu (Suraj Venjarumood), a lawyer who makes a lot of money through insurance claims. Mukundan follows him like a shadow until he learns the tricks of the trade and then thinks, “mandan” (stupid man).
Watch: Trailer of the film
Mukundan’s mind is in this way laid bare to us, a privilege, because no one else around him — not even his closest friends (poor Sudhi Koppa) — seem to have a clue on what goes on in it. The script that Abhinav wrote with Vimal Gopalakrishnan has the kind of dark humour that comes with exposing the vile, sarcastic thoughts of a man who plans his every last move in his head. From the smile he gives a prospective client, to the decision to stay silent in confrontation — “Mindathirikam, pokumayirikum” (I will stay quiet, maybe he will leave) — nothing is organic. Sachin Warrier’s accompanying music adds to the fun.
The film's women characters (played by Tanvi Ram, Arsha Baiju, Asha Sreekanth, and Riya Saira) are either ambitious or independent. Mukundan judges each as smart, better than the husband, and so on, but he doesn’t seem to have romantic interests. Like I said, he cares for no one, maybe not even money.
Though the film is packed with events, with Mukundan running from one failed scheme to another in the first half, all of it appears to go through a maze that reaches nowhere. The script is not gripping like a thriller and sometimes seems a tad repetitive. It is, however, really interesting and after every few minutes you find a new layer to Mukundan’s character — or perhaps one more low that he does not mind sinking into. He is not meant to be figured out.
Vineeth, in some ways, reminds you of his father Sreenivasan who has played many con characters like in Mukundetta Sumithra Vilikunnu (coincidentally, another Mukundan in the title). But the actor-director, with an image of a soft and polite person, shows that he can easily turn ‘ulta’ for the sake of art. He had offered a glimpse of this side in Thanneer Mathan Dinangal, playing a hypocrite teacher. But Mukundan Unni Associates tops everything, it is his film from the first scene to the last.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film's producers or any other members of its cast and crew.