Unni Mukundan on Pushpa 2 and Marco’s pan-Indian success: ‘Some films might have big budgets but...’

It’s now becoming a regular phenomenon for South films to go pan-India and become massive successes. After the record-breaking success of Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2 : The Rule, which has already grossed Rs 1700 Cr worldwide, it’s Unni Mukundan’s Malayalam action-thriller Marco that has creating waves in the Indian box office.

The latter, which has already fetched Rs 65 Cr worldwide in 11 days, has seen an increase a massive increase in its theatres in North India last weekend and is set to release in Telugu and Tamil on January 1 and January 3, respectively.

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Unni Mukundan on Pushpa 2 success: ‘It’s about how the film is made’

In a recent interview during the promotion of the Hindi version of Marco, Unni explained whether marketing a film well is important for its pan-Indian success.

“I think these (Pushpa 2 and Marco) are the best of the lot. It’s the content and the way that Pushpa 2 was made (which helped in its reach); same is the case with Marco,” said Unni to Zoom. “There are a lot of other movies that are made on a big scale, but they don’t get this reach. The audiences are now smart enough to understand that some films might have a big budget, but they don’t connect with them. So, it’s eventually the content that determines if a film is worthy to be marketed as well.”

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The actor also explained that it’s tough for every film to become pan-Indian hits. “There are 200 such films that are being made, but we are only discussing two movies. So, the success rate is pretty damn low. That’s how the dynamics of the industry is. Each movie should be good enough for the audience to relate to,” he added.

Marco star on changing trends in Indian cinema

Unni, who already has a Rs 100 Cr hit with his film Malikkappuram, said that he doesn’t believe that big-budget or pan-Indian films are going to trend in the coming year. “When I was growing up, there were big ‘mass’ movies, parallel cinema and films with newcomers; all of these are still happening. So, these trends have always been there. It’s just the way that cinema is perceived now and how we complicate it by overly discussing these aspects are what is changing,” he said.

The actor also added that he believes a lot more attention is now paid to directors and actors, and cinema is only a reflection of what’s happening in the society and not vice versa.

In an earlier interview, while addressing the impact of violent films such as Marco on the society, the actor said the audience is mature enough not to be influenced by it. “People know we are just acting, and this is only for entertainment,” he said.