Unda () is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language black comedy film directed by Khalid Rahman with a screenplay by Harshad based on a story by Rahman. Krishnan Sethukumar produced the film for Moviee Mill and Gemini Studios. The film stars Mammootty, Shine Tom Chacko, Jacob Gregory and Arjun Ashokan. Sajith Purushan was the film's cinematographer, and Prashant Pillai composed the music.
The story is based on an incident that occurred during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, when a nine-man police unit from Kerala was sent to a Naxalite-affected area of Chhattisgarh as part of election duty with insufficient ammunition. Deceived by the calm and quiet on their first day, the police let their guard down when a shootout the next day made them aware of the dangers they were about to face. In their initial rush of excitement, they fired almost all of the very limited number of bullets they had brought with them. To conduct the elections peacefully with only eight bullets left becomes a humongous task ahead of them.
Unda’s development began in 2014, when Rahman spotted an article featured in the Malayala Manorama daily. The article was about a police unit from Kerala posted as part of election duty in a Maoist affected area in Chhattisgarh without sufficient ammunition. After research, Harshad wrote the screenplay with Rahman in 2016. Eventually, Sethukumar replaced Anwar Rasheed, who was its initial financier, as the producer of the film. The title was announced on 21 September 2018 and production commenced from October. Principal photography began by the second week of October in Kasaragod and shooting was completed on 23 March 2019 in Chhattisgarh.
The film was released in India on 14 June 2019 and globally on 19 June. Upon release, the film met with widespread critical acclaim. The performances of its cast, direction and screenplay were praised by critics. It grossed over ₹20 crore worldwide in 10 days at the box office and ₹30 crore in its final run and became a commercial success. The film was screened at the 24th International Film Festival of Kerala 2019 under the section 'Malayalam Cinema Today'. It was included in The Hindu's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade.
Plot Police units from the Kerala Police camp in Idukki are preparing for election duty in other states. They are briefed by their senior officer Sam J. Mathan that they will be going to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand for forty days. He emphasizes that they should use ammunition only when necessary. A unit under CI Mathews Anthony arrives in Bastar at Chhattisgarh, which is one of the most dangerous parts of the Maoist affected red belt in India. Due to the unavailability of accommodations, the unit are forced to find shelter in their respective polling booths until election day. On their way to the booths, they split into three teams with Sub Inspector Manikandan leading one. That night, they receive a message warning of a likely Maoist attack. Though they become alert with loaded guns, no attack happens.
The next day morning, ITBP Commandant Dakota Akanito finds the team irresponsible and informs them of the seriousness of their duty by showing them footage of people killed during Maoist attacks in the past. He is surprised to learn that the team has not been provided with sufficient bullets and ammunition by the State Government. After realizing the threat of their duty, Mani speaks to Mathews over phone and informs him what the ITBP commandant said. Mathews tells him that the state government had said that providing ammunition is the responsibility of the state government in Chhattisgarh. The next day night, the team encounters with a light shootout by the Maoists and fires back. Later, the ITBP officers inform them that some Maoists were chased by them and they unknowingly fired back bullets seeing the lights and the remaining were fire crackers. The ashamed team realizes that they wasted bullets and now only eight bullets remain. The next day, Mani goes to meet Mathews and informs him that their situation is in danger without sufficient ammunition.
Some in the team are angry at Mani as they felt that he hadn't done anything during the previous day's firing on purpose. Mani realizing that something has to be done immediately to stay alive, sends some pictures to his friends in Kerala of the team laying on floor without any facilities and making a note of their current situation. Back in Kerala after receiving his message, the news gets featured on a newspaper and Sam J. Mathan is forced to take action and quickly makes arrangement to send more bullets and ammunition for the team. Two cops Rajan and Balan continue their journey in a train from Kerala to Chhattisgarh with the necessary bullets and ammunition that has been allotted. Meantime, Unnikrishnan accompanied by Biju Kumar, without informing Mani gets to a place in the village to buy liquor. On their way back, Unnikrishnan starts to tease Biju Kumar who belongs to the adivasi community. Biju Kumar who has been hearing the abuses repeatedly loses control and hits Unnikrishnan. They end the fight when they spot a truck approaching from the distance, which suddenly explodes passing over a land mine.
Both of them survive with minor injuries. That night, Biju Kumar informs the others in the presence of Mani that he would want to quit his job because he cannot withstand such criticism anymore. Later that night, Rajan and Balan find the box carrying the bullets in the train missing and stand furious without knowing what to do next. On the day of the election, Mathews informs them that both the bullets and the people assigned to carry it have been missing. Mani reaches the booth and learns that a candidate along with his goons had barged into the booth and had created a ruckus by vote rigging. He slaps a goon who tries to destroy the EVM and asks the rest of them to leave. Sometime later, they see the goons approaching in a larger number. Mani tells his team that they would have to conduct the election peacefully no matter how with only the eight bullets left. Due to the shortage of ammunition he instructs his team to use their lathis and shields in which they are very experienced. Mani and his team defeat the goons and complete their election assignment. Then, a monkey is shown jumping over the lost box of bullets by a railway track.
Cast
Mammootty as S. I. Manikandan C. P. / Mani, armed police battalion Ranjith as C. I. Mathews Anthony Dileesh Pothan as C. I. Mathukutty J. Shine Tom Chacko as HDR Jojo Samson Arjun Ashokan as PC Gireesh T. P. Kalabhavan Shajohn as SP Sam J. Mathen IPS, Commandant, Armed Police Battalion Bhagwan Tiwari as ITBP officer Kapil Dev Omkar Das Manikpuri as Kunalchand Jacob Gregory as PC Varghese Kuruvila / Smooth Rony David as PC Aji Peter Lukman Avaran as PC Biju Kumar Gokulan as PC Gokulan Balachandran Abhiram Radhakrishnan as PC Unni Krishnan A. Noushad Bombay as PC Noushad Ali Chien Ho Liao as ITBP Commandant Dakota Akanito Shaheen Ahamed as ITBP officer Vincent James B. Shantanu as Zammindar Harshad as person in the train Sohan Seenulal as Police officer
Cameo appearances Asif Ali as S. I. Rajan Vinay Forrt S. I. Balan Easwari Rao as Lalitha, Mani's wife Sudhi Koppa as Police officer
Production Development Unda is based on a 2014 newspaper article in the Malayala Manorama daily. In 2014, Rahman had noticed an article pointing out the situation of a unit of policemen from Kerala sent to Chhattisgarh for duty during the 2014 Lok Sabha election. It reported that the unit, posted in an area with rampant Maoist activity, were not provided with sufficient ammunition. Rahman found a photograph showing a bunch of cops crammed into a tiny room, sleeping on the floor holding their rifles close to their chest, haunting. After realizing that the article had a film subject in it, Rahman met some of the police officers in person to develop the film's basic storyline. The film had to be set outside Kerala and required to be made on a large canvas, Rahman in the meantime worked on another film, Anuraga Karikkin Vellam (2016), which became his directorial debut. It was Anwar Rasheed who suggested Harshad to Rahman for writing Unda’s screenplay. In 2016, Rahman and Harshad started to write Unda’s screenplay. Initially, Harshad had developed a one-liner based on all the details collected by Rahman. Later, both of them along with cinematographer Jimshi and their assistants had traveled to Bastar to collect some more details. In an interview with The Hindu on the challenges he faced, Rahman said: “I had only the newspaper article as a reference. It was not easy to meet the policemen who went there on duty because they are not supposed to reveal anything about their official work. After a report came out, a directive was issued to stop the men from revealing anything more about their assignment. So, no reports came out after that. Thus, it was quite a task to collect the details.” Though Rahman planned to make it as a commercial film, 80% of the script was written based on the real incidents.
In early November 2017, Mammootty was reported as the star of the film, with Anwar Rasheed financing. Because of the delay and extension in filming Trance, Rasheed left Unda amicably and Krishnan Sethukumar replaced him as producer. Prominent Chennai based film studio Gemini Film Circuit marked their return into production after a long time by co-producing and distributing Unda. Rahman's brother Jimshi Khalid was initially announced as the film's cinematographer and filming was planned to start in September 2018. Rahman and Jimshi visited North Indian states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in search of filming locations. Prashant Pillai was signed as the film's composer and Bollywood action director Sham Kaushal was the film's stunt coordinator. Although it was reported in May 2018 that Jimshi Khalid would be the film's cinematographer, Gavemic U. Ary replaced him. Later, Sajith Purushan was credited as the film's cinematographer in the first look poster and replaced Gavemic for unknown reasons.
Title Even before its official announcement, medias had reported speculations about the title of the film to be Unda. On 21 September 2018, Mammootty shared a poster through his Facebook handle revealing the title "Unda", meaning Bullet in Malayalam. Due to its unique title, numerous trolls and negative comments had appeared across social media platforms post announcement. When asked about the title given for the film, Rahman said that the film is very much connected to a bullet and it was put just for its attractive point of view. According to him, a film's title is important to a film as much as its story and the title given here is very much connected to the film's storyline. He also said that one could only understand its relevance after watching the film. In an interview with Mathrubhumi, Mammootty said that the title communicates what is being discussed in the film and has been designed resembling a “piercing bullet”.
Casting