Imagine a movie featuring Sreenivasan's ultra-despicable character "Viswanathan" from "Mukunthetta Sumitra Vilikkunnu (1988)" as the main protagonist? That is exactly the wacky idea with which editor turned director Abhinav Sundar Nayak has conceived the immensely enjoyable black comedy "Mukundan Unni Associates" that throws caution to the wind and delivers a laugh riot sans any moral sermons or lessons about karma.
Vineeth Sreenivasan stars as a Machiavellian lawyer who stars venturing into ambulance chasing on realizing that conventional methods will not give him the success that he so craves. Standing in his way is veteran ambulance chaser Advocate Venu (a superb Suraj Venjaramoodu) and a host of other roadblocks which he looks to circumvent in typically diabolical ways. The way the director uses fourth-wall breaking and inner monologues to take the narrative forward is nothing short of genius and it is through this that he delivers most of the zany comedy in the film.
The casting is spot on throughout the film, with even minor characters playing their part to perfection, especially Tanvi Ram, George Kora, Sudhi Koppa and a fine Arsha Chandini Baiju, who had earlier caught the eye in the Karikku web series "Average Ambili". The writing from the director himself and co-writer Vimal Gopalakrishnan never let the tension and humor let up, carrying both forward with equal aplomb and even manage deliver some jarring surprises just when we think the film's climax is starting to meander along expected lines.
Just when Basil Joseph was starting to stake a claim for the title of this generation's "Sreenivasan" with his immense performance in "Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey", Vineeth Sreenivasan produces the goods in "Mukundan Unni Associates", turning in a performance his dad would have been proud of. This is the fourth-wall breaking meta dark comedy that we didn't know we deserved and is, needless to say, highly recommended!
