Unni Mukundan

Unni Mukundan, originally Unnikrishnan Mukundan Nair, is a name you just can’t ignore in Malayalam cinema. Born and raised in Ahmedabad, he did his schooling there before heading to Thrissur for college, picking up English Literature and Journalism along the way. Before the whole acting gig, he was working a cushy BPO job, but ditched it for the film world—gotta respect the hustle. He kicked off his acting career in 2011 with Seedan, playing the lead in this romantic fantasy. Not one to take it slow, he jumped right into Bombay March 12, sharing screen space with Mammootty—talk about a power move. Awards came knocking early too: SIIMA, Jaihind TV, Asianet…he cleaned up pretty well for a debutant. But it wasn’t all serious drama—he switched gears with the comedy-dramas like Thatsamayam Oru Penkutty and Mallu Singh. Mallu Singh, in particular, was a crowd-pleaser and stuck around in theatres for over 100 days. He bounced between cameos and lead roles in flicks like Theevram, I Love Me, and Ithu Pathiramanal, and even took a shot at anthologies and adventure thrillers. Unni kept climbing, landing big releases like Vikramadithyan and branching out into Telugu cinema with Janatha Garage, which was a massive box office hit. He even tried his hand as a singer and lyricist in Achayans, and took on diverse roles, from a cop to a devoted father in Clint. His Tamil-Telugu film Bhaagamathie was another biggie, and blockbusters like Malikappuram proved his staying power. Oh, and he runs his own production house now. Not bad for a guy who started out at a call center.