Marco star Unni Mukundan turns director; picks superhero genre for debut

Malayalam actor Unni Mukundan, who became a pan-Indian star last year, with the ultra-violent Marco, has always been vocal about his love for the technical side of filmmaking and desire to turn filmmaker at some point. Unni had assisted director Lohitadas before fate took a different turn and acting became his mainstay. While he has ventured into production with Meppadiyan, Shafeekinte Santhosham, Jai Ganesh and Marco , Unni is now ready to take the next step and turn to the director’s chair, which has been a long-standing dream of his.

Unni Mukundan: I grew up believing in legends...

Taking to social media, with an image of him standing in front of an enviable collection of superhero figurines and bobble heads, Unni wrote about growing up believing in legends and being drawn to stories of courage, sacrifice, and magic. “I found my heroes not just in books, movies, folk stories, tiny action figures but also in my dreams,” he wrote.

The actor added that growing up in the superhero era, led him to become a thorough day dreamer, for whom these characters were “hope in motion”, who made him feel heroic. And since he never gave up dreaming, Unni is now prepping for his big debut as a director, with a superhero story, the second in Malayalam cinema, after Tovino Thomas’ Minnal Murali. The film will be produced by Gokulam Gopalan, who most recently stepped in to help with the release of Prithviraj Sukumaran’s L2: Empuraan, the sequel to Lucifer .

Based on a story by Unni, and a script by Aadu, Anjaam Pathira , Abraham Ozler director Midhun Manuel Thomas, the film will go on floors in early 2026, once the actor completes his commitment on a Telugu project. Pre-production has already begun, he wrote, adding that the film will release in all prominent Indian languages.

This would also mean that plans for a Marco sequel will be on hold for the foreseeable future. Incidentally, Unni has been quoted as saying that he’d love to direct Hrithik Roshan, the star of Bollywood’s popular superhero franchise, Krrrish. Is Unni aiming to pull off a casting coup and get the Bollywood star on board his film as an ally or antagonist, perhaps?