Actor Unni Mukundan is back in the Tamil film industry after a decade, with ‘Garudan’, where he shares screen space with actors Soori and Sasikumar. On how it feels to be back in a Tamil film set, the actor says, “I love Tamil, and there is a sense of contentment I feel while speaking the language.”
The language and the city of Chennai evoked a sense of warm nostalgia for the actor. Back in 2011, he played Mano Ramalingam in Subramaniam Siva’s ‘Seedan’, marking the beginning of his cinematic journey. “I was in Chennai for two to three years, and ‘Seedan’ marked my debut as an actor in the film industry.
Although ‘Seedan’ was not a remarkable success, it led to other film offers for me in Tamil. At the same time, I started working on projects in Malayalam, and as I am more comfortable speaking the language and the sense of ease that comes with it, my career flourished in the Malayalam film industry,” says Unni, as he reflects on the initial stages of his career.
Apart from Malayalam, Unni reveals that he also found meaty roles in Telugu films as well. At such a juncture, why did he take a long pause to return to Tamil? “Even when I was working in Malayalam and Telugu films, I was very particular about my choices in Tamil cinema. Despite being from Kerala, I started my career in Tamil cinema. After all, it is an industry that gave me an address. Over the past twelve years, I have been observing the evolution of the industry with keen interest, much like a child marvelling at something new,” he says.
For choosing ‘Garudan’ as his return to the industry, Unni points out a slew of reasons that made him pursue the film, “’Malikappuram’ paved the way for ‘Garudan’ to come to me. Producer K Kumar, who was also involved with ‘Garudan’, liked my work in ‘Malikappuram’. He suggested my name to the director, and that’s how I got to hear the story of Garudan.
