Marco star Unni Mukundan on KGF, Animal comparisons: ‘The audience is mature enough...’

Malayalam action-thriller Marco is surely scaling new heights. The movie, which has already grossed Rs 60 Cr, is expecting to set new records with its Hindi and Telugu versions in the coming weeks, and its lead actor and co-producer Unni Mukundan talked about the violence in the movie as well as addressed the comparisons with another South film that got pan-Indian attention – Yash's KGF franchise.

Incidentally, Marco was also praised for its background score, which was composed by Kannada music director Ravi Basrur, who had also worked on Prashanth Neel’s KGF.

Also read: Marco: Kabir Duhan Singh had to visit 6 temples to calm his 'disturbed' mind after shoot of Unni Mukundan film 

Unni Mukundan: We didn’t want Marco to sound like KGF

On Ravi Basrur’s contributions to the film, Unni said, “The film has all the trending sounds that today’s audience wants to hear; he has used it in each character’s intro and bgm. We brought Ravi sir on board because we wanted it to sound very commercial. He is renowned for his background score. Like a lot of people, I also love KGF, but we wanted to ensure that Marco didn’t sound like KGF. The feedback was that the film was one of the best works of Ravi Basrur post KGF.”

Also read: Marco Day 8 box office collection: Film breaks Prithviraj Sukumaran's Aadujeevitham record, speeds to Rs 60 Cr 

In the media interaction in Mumbai, Unni also talked about the film’s violence and its influence on the society. The movie is on track to break major box office records set by other Malayalam movies and its Hindi version has already gone on to gross close to Rs 50 lakh in eight days.

Incidentally, from its second weekend onwards, the film’s Hindi version has already started replacing shows of Varun Dhawan’s Baby John after the latter has failed to bring good collections in North Indian theatres.

Unni Mukundan on Marco’s A-rated violent action scenes

Unni also downplayed the comparisons of Marco with Ranbir Kapoor's Animal and Lakshya's Kill, which released earlier this year. “I don’t believe in comparisons. We don’t make films to compete or compare with other movies. I, much like my creative team, am a huge fan of Animal. Kill was playing in theatres while the shooting of Marco was on. I have grown up watching a lot of action films, and my favourite actors are action heroes. So, action is a genre that gets celebrated everywhere,” said Unni, who plays the titular character in the Haneef Adeni directorial. 

On how much impact the violence of such films will have on the society, the actor said, "I also understand that our audience is mature enough not to be influenced by it. It has been certified as A (by CBFC) so that it doesn’t influence people. People know that we are just acting. Of course, there is crime in real life. That said, this is primarily for entertainment.”

Unni has also dubbed for himself in the Hindi version of the film, which will also get a GCC release on January 1, 2025.

“We didn’t want the movie to seem like it’s dubbed,” said the actor. “I was personally in Mumbai when this movie was dubbed. And from the feedback I have got, Marco’s Hindi version doesn’t feel like it’s another South Indian film that was dubbed. So, we have been able to maintain that quality.”

Marco also has Bollywood actors Kabir Duhan Singh and Yukti Thareja, apart from Siddique, Jagadeesh and Abhimanyu Thilakan. The movie’s Telugu version will hit theatres in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on January 1, 2025.