Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions has signed filmmaker Haneef Adeni for a high-octane actioner. Adeni is the director of the recent commercial and critical Malayalam cinematic success, Marco. The new film with Dharma promises to be a high-impact actioner with a strong beating heart. Haneef’s impressive filmography includes The Great Father (2017) and Mikhael (2019) among many other films.

Dharma Productions has kickstarted 2025 with only positive steps towards expanding their cinematic journey. They introduced their distribution wing and are on the cusp of many releases lined up for the upcoming months, ranging in different genres. The onboarding of Haneef Adeni introduces a fresh wave of promising big-screen action ahead for the production house.

Meanwhile, Marco is a neo-noir action film written and helmed by Adeni and starring Unni Mukundan, Siddique, Kabir Duhan Singh and Jagadish among others. It is a spin-off to the film Mikhael and follows Marco Jr who is a ruthless criminal and the adopted son of the Adattu crime family.

In an exclusive conversation with Filmfare, Mukundan opened up about the excessive use of violence in the film and said, “As an actor, I believe it’s essential to portray violence responsibly on screen. Marco’s violent scenes are not gratuitous; they serve a purpose in the narrative. We’ve taken care to ensure that the violence is not glorified or romanticized. Our goal is to create a cinematic experience that’s thought-provoking and entertaining, not to promote or condone violence. Violence as a theme has always been present in cinema. However, I believe that the way we portray violence has changed over time. Audiences are more discerning now, and they expect more nuanced and thoughtful storytelling. Marco’s success suggests that audiences are responding to our approach to portraying violence in a more realistic and impactful way.”