Pazhassi Raja (2009)

Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, a prince of the Kottayam royal house in Malabar, refuses to accept the authority and taxes of the East India Company. When the British move against him, he retreats into the hills and forests of Wayanad and, with tribal fighters led by Thalakkal Chandu and the warrior Edachena Kunkan, leads a long guerrilla resistance that the Company struggles to crush. The film follows the campaign, the betrayals within his own circle and the cost of the war to the people who fight it. Written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair, it reunited him with director Hariharan and Mammootty twenty years after Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, and it was among the most expensive Malayalam films ever made at the time. It won National Awards for Ilaiyaraaja's background score, Resul Pookutty's sound and a special jury mention for Padmapriya.