VC Abhilash slams Unni Mukundan's Marco as ‘dark chapter in Indian cinema’; questions mental state of audience, team

Haneef Adeni's Unni Mukundan-starrer Marco received polarising opinions from the audience for its portrayal of violence.

Director VC Abhilash criticised Haneef Adeni's Unni Mukundan-starrer Marco for its portrayal of violence. The filmmaker penned a long note on Facebook, stating that the second half of the Malayalam film left him questioning the mental state of the film’s team. Here’s what he said. (Also Read: 'Most violent Indian film ever' Marco denied satellite TV rights, producer vows to 'not make films promoting violence')

Unni Mukundan in a still from Haneef Adeni's 2024 film Marco.

VC Abhilash on Marco

Abhilash began his note by stating that he only watched Marco’s first half in theatres and completed it recently after a friend told him, ‘there’s no violence like this one’. Stating that it made him question the mental state of those who made it and liked it, he added, “I would like to ask those who made this anti-social work and those who praised it to examine their own mental state. 'Why did you agree to watch this?' 'Didn't it succeed in the theatre?' Beyond the questions, for the audience in me, this product is a dark chapter in the history of Indian cinema and a big social crime.”

Abhilash pointed out that he had never seen such ‘demonic/inhumane’ scenes, even in Korean films, pointing out violent sequences involving a kid, a pregnant woman and an unborn child. “Even if we argue that all this is normal in this society, the only result that Marco produces is sadism. Neither the filmmaker nor the audience in me has the argument that cinema should only be a re-introduction of purity. Crime-thriller films are my passion and my dream,” he wrote, adding, “But because of works like Marco, the 'interference' of the censor board will be greater than it is now. The natural changes that occur in the storyline of films, even crime scenes will be questioned tomorrow.”

The filmmaker stated that the film’s team will soon give interviews to alleviate their ‘guilty conscience’ and claim their intention was not to promote such violence. “By then, this poisonous offspring labeled as art will have given energy to the baseless interpretation that cinema is the cause of all the evils in the country! If tomorrow someone takes a film that supports pedophilia, can we interpret it as art and give permission to show it?” questioned Abhilash. He ended the note asking the society and film fraternity to ‘reject this poisonous snake’.

Satellite streaming issues

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certified Marco ‘A’ for theatrical release, but it rejected the producers' plea to convert it to ‘UA’ so it could be streamed on TV. T Nadeem Thufali, regional officer of CBFI confirmed the news to PTI. The film is streaming on SonyLIV as of February 14 after a theatrical release on December 20 last year.

“Parents should be vigilant to ensure that children do not watch movies with extreme violence,” said Nadeem, adding the committee had made a formal recommendation to the Centre that the streaming of the movie be prohibited on the OTT platform also. “However, CBFC has no regulatory powers on OTT streaming,” he added.

Shareef Mohammed, Marco’s producer, defended the film, stating, “It is not cinema that should change, but our perspective.” He also pointed out that Marco wasn’t the first film to portray violence, but added, “I will not make any film that apparently promotes violence from here on.”