Siby Malayil, one of the finest directors in Malayalam cinema, is going through a rough patch.

So, much rides on Unnam, releasing today. The film, according to the director, "is basically about crime and has the mood of a thriller".

The cast includes Asif Ali, Lal, Nedumudi Venu, Sreenivasan, Prashanth Narayan, Swetha Menon and Rima Kallingal.

Unnam has been produced under the banner of Kuniyil Films. Ajayan Vincent is the cinematographer and John P Varkey is the music director.

Swathi Bhaskar, who had directed Currency some time back, is the scenarist. He has also written the script of Mullassery Madhavan Kutty Nemom P O -- another film that opens today and has Anoop Menon playing the lead.

"This story is about a gang that commits a crime in order to make a fast buck and their relationships take some unprecedented turns in between," says Siby.

Lal plays Sunny, Nedumudi Venu is Murugan, Asif Ali, Aloshy and Prashanth Narayan is Tomi.

There have been reports in the media that the film was inspired by the Hindi film Johnny Gaddaar directed by Sriram Raghavan.

The latest buzz is that some changes have been made in Unnam's storyline after these reports.

Another pre-release controversy was created when Rima Kallingal was absent from the shooting for a day and the director criticised her unprofessional behaviour.

Asif Ali, who played the solo hero in Siby Malayil's Violin last year, is also going through a rough patch in his career as his latest release Asuravithu sank without a trace.

Prashanth Narayan, a Malayali who grew up in Delhi, played the baddie in Murder 2 and makes his debut in Malayalam with this film.

Unnam could decide the fortunes of others in the Malayalam film industry as well.