Unda (2019) on Netflix

NR20192h 10mAction Comedy Thriller

Sub inspector Manikandan takes a unit of Kerala policemen to Bastar for election duty in a Maoist belt. With scarce ammunition and no training, the team must hold their polling booths.

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Netflix3.9/5
IMDb7.7/105,095 votes
Rotten TomatoesNot available

Trailer

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Plot summary

A unit of Kerala policemen is sent to Bastar, in the Maoist-affected red belt of Chhattisgarh, for forty days of election duty. Their senior officer, Sam J. Mathan, tells them to use ammunition only when necessary. Because no accommodation is available, the men under C. I. Mathews Anthony must sleep in their polling booths until election day. Manikandan, a sub inspector, leads one of three teams. A warning of a likely Maoist attack arrives that night, and although the men keep their guns loaded, nothing happens. The next morning an ITBP commandant, Dakota Akanito, shows them footage of people killed in Maoist attacks and is surprised that the state government has not given the unit enough bullets.

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Unda (2019)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Unda is based on a 2014 Malayala Manorama article about a Kerala police unit sent to a Maoist-affected area of Chhattisgarh for the 2014 Lok Sabha election that was not provided with sufficient ammunition. Director Khalid Rahman spotted the article that year.
Animal Legal Force Integration, Ernakulam filed a petition against the crew for shooting in the Mulleria reserve forest, saying dumped gravel made the area marshy and damaged its microflora and microfauna. Director Khalid Rahman admitted they disturbed the ecosystem, and on 26 June 2019 the Kerala High Court ordered the Central Government to act against the crew and the officials who gave permission.
Stunt coordinator Sham Kaushal choreographed the fight sequences without dupes or special effects, and Mammootty did all of his own fights in the climax. Kaushal called it an honest, realistic story that demanded real action.
The film was shot in sync sound, which worried the actors, some of whom struggled to learn and deliver their dialogues on set. After the first two or three days without sync sound, Mammootty suggested switching to it rather than recreating all the dialogue later in the dubbing studio.
Costume designer Mashar Hamsa bought the policemen's uniforms from different shops at different rates so the khakis would come in different shades, as real policemen's do, and linked each uniform to its character.
A year before filming, director Khalid Rahman and composer Prashant Pillai visited villages in Bastar and recorded major portions of the soundtrack with local singers, including children, young people and elderly men and women, to match the region's indigenous music.
Unda became Mammootty's first film, and the second Malayalam film after Lucifer, to be released in Saudi Arabia, after opening in the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council on 19 June 2019.