Marco star Unni Mukundan opposes Malayalam film producers’ strike: ‘Won’t support anything that kills the industry’

Malayalam star Unni Mukundan, who had acted and co-produced Marco, one of the biggest recent hits from the industry, recently talked about the film producers’ strike that has been planned from June 1, demanding actors to cut their remuneration as well as for the government to introduce measures to help reduce financial losses.

At a press meet of his movie Get Set Baby, the actor said strikes are the worst way to go about any problem in any industry. “We must find solutions if there is a problem. I won’t support anything that would kill the industry. I am taking care of my parents because of this job and if that ceases, what will I do?” asked Unni.

Also read: Prithviraj, Unni Mukundan back Antony Perumbavoor as he takes on Suresh Kumar for comments on Empuraan's budget 

Unni Mukundan opposes Malayalam film producers’ strike

The actor also pointed out that organising such extreme measures hamper the functioning of the industry, and also affects a lot of personnel who are involved in making films. “Strikes might have been an interesting way to tackle it once upon a time, but these days it’s not even fair to stop everyone from working because one section of people have a problem. When a movie is made, several people make a living out of it. Forget the actors, there are daily-wage workers who earn their living out of this job,” he stated.

Mentioning that he and his co-producers made profit from Marco, Unni said that the producers should be aware that films are a “risky business”. “As a producer and an actor, I invest in an idea. Movie making is always a risky business, and if someone makes a producer believe that they will get back what they invested as table profit, then it’s fraud. That just points to poor understanding of the business,” said Unni.

Unni Mukundan backs decision to release Jai Ganesh with Aavesham

Incidentally, another film that Unni was part of last year – Jai Ganesh – didn't have the same fortune as Marco. The film was released during Vishu 2024 along with Varshangalkku Shesham and Fahadh Faasil’s Aavesham, which emerged as a blockbuster.

Also read: Jai Ganesh Review - Unni Mukundan impresses in Ranjith Sankar’s engrossing mystery thriller 

The Marco star, however, backed this decision. “A lot of people asked me if I should release the movie along with Aavesham, which is what the youth audience were waiting for. But the reason I backed Jai Ganesh was because of the idea of inclusiveness. People say that we should include specially-abled persons as well but when you do a movie about such a person, you are asked to move the film for a bigger movie. I believe our thought was big and that’s why we released it,” he said. “Movies don’t become small or big, based on how much you invest. It depends entirely on the content that you are putting the money in. As far as I am concerned, a movie about a specially-abled man doing something extraordinary is a ‘mass’ film and that’s how I had approached Jai Ganesh.”-