‘Mukundan Unni Associates is a negative film, how did such a movie run?’ Idavela Babu criticizes film’s content

Idavela Babu questioned the audience’s values for contributing to the success of Mukundan Unni Associates

A still from Mukundan Unni Associates and (right) Idavela Babu

The success of Mukundan Unni Associates has not gone down well with Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes official and actor Idavela Babu, who speaking at an event in Thiruvananthapuram, lambasted the film’s content and dialogues.

During his talk on film and writing at the ongoing Kerala Legislature International Book Festival, Babu said that the movie is a “negative film” and questioned how it was passed by the censor board, without any cuts.

Also read: Mukundan Unni Associates: Response of elder audience defied expectations, says Abhinav Sunder Nayak | Exclusive

“The movie starts by saying that it doesn’t have anyone to thank. I don’t even want to repeat the dialogue at the climax,” said the actor, hinting that the film’s female lead character uses foul language. “I can’t even think of making such a movie.”

He, however, pointed out that the movie ran in theatres and made the producer good money. Babu questioned who has lost values – the audience or those from the film industry. He also mentioned that he had reached out to Vineeth Sreenivasan, who essays the lead character of a narcissistic lawyer with no virtues, to try and understand why he did the film.

Also read: Mukundan Unni Associates director reveals the connection between its protagonist and Christian Bale’s American Psycho

Babu said that seven actors had turned down the script before the director had approached Vineeth. “Vineeth couldn’t avoid it as the filmmaker was his assistant director,” he explained. “The director, however, was confident that the movie would run. So, what shocked me was that more than where our industry was heading, where are our audience heading?”

It seems like Babu seems to have missed the point of the dark comedy entirely. The film’s director Abhinav Sunder Nayak in a recent interview with us said that he was sure that the movie would work with the youngsters but the response of the older audience defied his expectations.

“We expected the film to be successful. What defied my expectations was the response of the family audience. In some of the theatres I had visited, I could see elderly ladies laughing when an accident scene was playing out; the bus accident, which is a very cruel act from the protagonist, was actually being enjoyed by them. That was something I didn’t expect at all. I expected the youngsters and a particular demographic to lap up that film but not the veteran audience. Of course, some of the people were offended but that’s natural,” he said, in an earlier interview with us.

Mukundan Unni Associates is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

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