Mukundan Unni Associates Malayalam Movie
"Human beings never disappoint me," says Vineeth Sreenivasan's lawyer character in Abhinav Sunder Nayak's Mukundan Unni Associates. This film is a dark comedy and the unabashed celebration of a psychopath. Vineeth Sreenivasan uses his voice to express his inner monologue with a scary sense of callousness. As the film begins, we are told that Mukundan Unni has long tried to live a structured life, but it has not taken him anywhere. Then, Mukundan Unni decides to be rich and go to great lengths to achieve what he wants.
Let us just say that the least cynical things he does in the film include breaking into the emergency rooms of hospitals for the signatures of injured people to raise accident claims. To ensure that his schemes work, Mukundan Unni bribes everyone, from an ambulance driver to a police officer.
At first, we feel that Mukundan Unni is a slickster with some sense of morality, like Saul Goodman from Better Call Saul. However, it does not take us long to realize that Mukundan Unni's sense of morality is wrecked beyond repair. In this regard, he is more similar to Jake Gyllenhaal's character from Nightcrawler than Saul Goodman. This is to say, he never stops thinking about how to make money.
Vineeth Sreenivasan plays the character with great wit, a sense of charm, and wickedness. This advocate is so egotistical that he cannot accept the fact that a junior is getting engaged before him. It is scary and laugh-out-loud funny to listen to his spiteful little jokes about humanity.
While much of the film involves Vineeth Sreenivasan's voice speaking out his mind, there are some interesting supporting characters too. There is a politician with good intentions, played by Sudheesh, who somehow keeps getting the short end of the stick. There is a female advocate, played by Tanvi Ram, who adheres to the rules and code of ethics for lawyers. There is also a terrific performance from Suraj Venjaramoodu. I like how writer-director Abhinav Sunder Nayak and writer Vimal Gopalakrishnan use Suraj's character.
The battle for one-upmanship between him and Mukundan Unni is interesting, and I like how he continues to be a part of the film to bring another dimension to Vineeth's character. The script by Abhinav and Vimal contains some hilarious one-liners and exchanges. The makers use gallows humor to drive home some fascinating ideas about how evil lawyers can be in life.
There is a clever plot point with a cobra showing how amoral a lawyer can become. Even the bit involving a car airbag works big time.
I have a small reservation with this film, though. There is a slight element of predictability at the end. You may not be able to predict where the film is headed, plot-wise, but it becomes predictable as to what the protagonist will do after a certain point. Nevertheless, this is not a major deal-breaker. This film will not disappoint anyone with a taste for a dark comedy.
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