A man who is so obsessed with becoming successful that he breaks, molds, and reattaches the rules in his favor. “Mukundan Unni Associates” is one such movie about an advocate who believes whatever he says or does is right and offers justification for it. But will his narcissistic, straightforward mindset lead him anywhere else? “Mukundan Unni Associates” is directed by debutante Abhinav Sunder Nayak though this film has left a stamp that will be hard to erase. A dark comedy set in the rural town of Kalpetta, Kerala, where people who have worth only if they can make money for those above them on the social ladder. “Mukundan Unni Associates” is a Malayalam language film released on the big screens on November 11th, 2022, and has been streaming on Disney+ Hotstar since January 13th, 2023.
Spoilers Ahead
Mukundan Unni And His Exploits
At the age of 36, Mukundan Unni, an unsuccessful lawyer living in the sleepy town of Kalpetta, decides this year is going to be his, and no one can stop him from becoming a successful man. Mukundan Unni works as a junior with a high-profile lawyer in the town, but he craves to break away and make a mark of his own. What stops him from being successful? The fact that he believes people around him are not as smart as he is, and that he can go around playing his games without anyone noticing the fact that he is manipulating them. As his senior is helping a local MLA evade responsibility for a scam she was involved in, Mukundan pitches his ideas on how the judge who gave an order against the ruling party’s MLA can be framed. Mukundan also conveys that if given a chance, this will be his first case, and he will try every trick in the book to win the case. He is sidelined by the MLA’s husband, an ex-minister, who is the string holding his puppet, his wife. Mukundan Unni comes across as a man who would want people to understand his motives right away, but he does not try to explain his stand or convince them why he is the only person they should be looking for. His seniors understood Mukundan’s intentions by advising the MLA and her husband about the case. Mukundan is subsequently fired from the firm for speaking against his boss. This is something he expected, but he has not lost hope even months after he was fired. Mukundan is a stubborn, vile man who would not think twice before commenting on anyone who is trying to inform him of anything that would improve his life. Mukundan is sure that the path he is leading is the only way out, and even if it might end up hurting others, that is a non – issue for him.
As he is navigating through what to do next on the job front, his mother suffers an injury for which he will have to pay an exorbitant fee for surgery. With the help of the hospital receptionist, Meenaxi, he comes to know of an agent who works for a lawyer that turns any injury case into an accident to get the insurance claim. He is introduced to Advocate Venu OV, who has a monopoly not just in this said hospital but also over all the accident cases that happen in Kalpetta. Venu and his team of people are well-versed in how to present the case and request a claim. No one seems to know how to break his syndicate until Mukundan comes to know of it through his mother’s case. Venu helps make his mother’s injury an accident claim, which will help him not just retrieve money for his mother’s surgery but also help him understand the nitty-gritty of how the syndicate works. Mukundan Unni hits a eureka moment when he realizes he can run this accident insurance claim system way better than how Venu is running this ring. Mukundan is a cocky man who thinks he can manipulate his way into breaking Venu’s monopoly. He starts by following the same pattern but starts to surprise the man who taught him every trick in the book about this scam.
Mukundan is in a race to become the most sought-after lawyer, and he will not let anyone derail his plan. He is mean, ruthless, and a lot of times ignorant of the fact that others are here in this field to make money as well and he can’t be the only one trying to find loopholes in the law to get a judgment in his favor. As Mukundan tries his level best to get accident claims to him, Advocate Venu sweeps in to take away such cases from under his nose. Mukundan recruits his friend Robin, the receptionist at the hospital, Meenaxi (who he secretly likes), and the ambulance driver of the hospital, who would inform him of all the cases that are coming in. Soon, Advocate Venu loses his traction, and they both start one-upping each other in the hope of crossing the winner’s line, which is nonexistent. This race is never-ending. Mukundan also tries to convince the Bharat Insurance company’s local head Annie Kurian to help him with the cases and go against advocate Venu. She outright refuses to be involved with Advocate Venu, and she will not join Advocate Mukundan Unni’s so-called “crusade.”
Out of sheer desperation, Advocate Venu suggests taking on the tender for the hospital’s security so that they can run this business on a 50:50 partnership. Mukundan, being confident of himself and ignorant of the fact that he is slowly becoming arrogant, refuses to partner with Venu. Mukundan Unni is the sort of man who would become cocky at the first sight of success and will refuse to land on his feet. Mukundan and his team so far have a decent business going before he is stopped by security at the hospital from speaking to any accident victims. He realizes the security team at the hospital has been changed with the consent of the MD’s son, a doctor at the hospital, and other senior physicians. Mukundan realizes his downfall was inevitable before he’d started, so he will have to take drastic actions to survive.
How Does Mukundan Unni Make Sure The Biggest Case Of His Career Falls Into His Lap? Is He Apologetic For His Behavior?
In the hope to survive in this dog-eat-dog world, Mukundan places a snake inside Advocate Venu’s car with the hope that he will be killed. Mukundan’s plans work, and Advocate Venu dies of an accident caused due to snake bite. Mukundan showcases signs of someone who has a touch of schadenfreude. He shows no amount of remorse for being responsible for Venu’s death. He assumes all his problems will now be sorted, since Venu is not his competitor anymore. Unfortunately, unknown to him, many problems are about to get to him. Annie Kurian of Bharat Insurance turns out to be Venu’s wife, now a widow, who is in no mood to entertain Mukundan’s plans to expand his hold over accident claims, which would include transferring the security tender in his name so that he can be the ruler from here on. Mukundan blackmails and forces her to give him the tender at the threat of revealing or he will be obligated to reveal the accident insurance claims and other nefarious business Venu had started. Annie is forced to let go of the security team’s tender to Mukundan. From here on he is unstoppable, and he assumes he is one of the masters of the universe who can conquer all and go on the path of finally becoming the successful man he always wanted to be. Mukundan, soon after Venu’s death, starts seeing him and hallucinates Venu speaking to him, guiding him from the other side to find solutions to his problems going forward. This is a clear sign of undiagnosed trauma which is surfacing in the form of hallucinations and imagination which is visible only to Mukundan and no one else. This is the first sign of the fact that Mukundan might be suffering from mental health issues or psychological issues which have not been picked up on by anyone around him, including his mother and friends. Many consider him to be unnecessarily egoistic and ruthless about his work, but no one bothered to understand the underlying growing psychological issues.
The hospital from where he is running the insurance claim ring belongs to the MLA Reshma George and her husband, George Illikal, and their son is one of the doctors running the hospital as well. The police officer who helps form fake accident reports to gather claims is in a situation where he needs to change the severe custodial injury of an arrested man into an accident. Mukundan takes up the case hoping this would be sorted too without any issues. He fakes an accident, secures a fake wound certificate by forging the seal and signature of the hospital, and submits the same to the court. Even though Advocate Robin, his friend, brings him another wound certificate from another hospital with the hope of helping Mukundan form a strong case for the claim, Mukundan, being himself, is jealous of the fact that Robin came up with this solution and not him. This ego trip forces him to abandon the wound certificate procured by Robin, and he goes ahead and submits the forged one. Unfortunately for him, the fake wound certificate is discovered by the judge himself, and Mukundan now realizes his life and career are at stake. With the judge being a witness to the fact that Mukundan submitted a forged wound certificate, it would mean the collapse of the entire ring he has carefully created for himself. Meanwhile, he gets married to Meenaxi, for they both understand each other’s tendencies and how their minds work when it comes to this business he is running. Mukundan realizes Meenaxi is a perfect addition to not just his business but his life too. His marriage takes place under a huge cloud of his potential arrest.
Venu appears in front of Mukundan and encourages him to commit suicide, and use sleeping pills to finish himself. Mukundan’s undiagnosed trauma resurfaces for he considers committing suicide days after his wedding because he cannot live with the idea of being a failure. Mukundan wants to succeed and only marches forward in that direction. His obsession with winning is proof of the fact that he wants to design his life and not live it as it comes. Mukundan is on his way to his honeymoon with his wife Meenaxi, and this is when he intends to consume a lethal amount of sleeping pills. The pharmacist cannot give him more than two pills without a prescription. He purchases the two pills and mixes them with an aerated drink meant for the bus driver. Soon, Mukundan is given the news that the judge who is a witness to his forging of the wound certificate has been suspended over the verdict of the case regarding the sitting MLA, Reshma George. Mukundan realizes it is too late to change the drink when the bus nearly misses an accident. The college bus coming from the other side rammed into a truck, which led to many students getting severely injured. Mukundan and his wife realized this would lead to a massive claim, and he began his quest to get this case in his kitty. Mukundan convinces all the victim’s parents to make him the advocate for the insurance claim, including the parents of one student who died in the accident. Mukundan, as one last act of revenge against the minister and his son, the doctor, leaks the information of a student dying due to medical negligence. Mukundan receives all the claims for all the students. The case against him for submitting a fake wound certificate is also resolved for the main witness.
Advocate Robin becomes brain dead in an accident caused by Mukundan himself. Robin’s name had been dragged in the fake wound certificate case, with him being accused of procuring it. Robin demands half the amount of the share he will receive from the bus accident claim. Mukundan slyly agrees but causes an accident by crashing the car he is driving into a tree. Mukundan is saved by the airbag, while Robin’s head crashes into the headboard. This again proves the fact that Mukundan is a selfish man who would eliminate even a friend who stood with him from the beginning. Upon realizing Robin has become a liability, he eliminates him so that Robin doesn’t become a hindrance on his path to becoming successful. Mukundan opens an office in the most prestigious office building in Kalpetta from the money he gained from the biggest insurance claim he grabbed. His name is suspiciously cleared from cases against him, which makes him a free man from now on. Mukundan Unni also, with the help of Reshma George, gets control of the hospital now that her husband and son’s names have been dragged into an unwarranted case of a student dying in the hospital because of inadequate facilities. This is a show of the monopoly and power now Mukundan holds, and he is unstoppable from here on.
Final Thoughts
“Mukundan Unni Associates” is probably one of the best films to have been released in the Malayalam industry space in the year 2022, and with the film getting new wings thanks to the OTT release, this film has reached a wider audience and appreciation. This film is all about a selfish narcissistic man that walks, runs, and jumps miles to reach the goal he has set for himself. A deliciously written screenplay along with a beautifully written voiceover for Mukundan is the highlight of the film. The screenplay does rely heavily on suspension of disbelief by the climax, but the director handled the narrative quite well by the end of the film. This film has some excellent editing, some of the best after “Thallumaala.”
The character Mukundan Unni, written by Vimal Gopalakrishnan and Abhinav Sunder Nayak, deserves applause for giving the audience a delicious anti-hero in the lead who has majorly flawed ideas about how to lead life and how to make sure one succeeds in life without having to do much hard work. Mukundan deserves a character study itself, thanks to the actor Vineeth Sreenivasan for portraying the character with such evilness. Vineeth is in control of his emotions, his character on screen and delivers all the voice-over dialogues with finesse. “Mukundan Unni Associates” is dark, delicious, and very matter-of-fact on the topic of how to live life. A satire done right. A must-watch.
“Mukundan Unni Associates” is a Malayalam language film, now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar with subtitles.
