Madhup. Chandigarh, 15th September: Six of the biggest names – superstars Mammootty and Sarath Kumar, Gyanpeeth award winner M.T. Vasudevan Nair, legendary music director Ilayaraaja, National award winning director T. Hariharan and Oscar award winner Resul Pookutty have come together to recreate the forgotten history of India’s first revolutionary hero – Pazhassi Raja. Pazhassi Raja, the Lion of Kerala was the first Indian warrior to raise the flag of rebellion against the British East India Company way back in 1797, fully 60 years before the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. The story of this forgotten hero is being re-told in ‘Pazhassi Raja’, one of the most lavish and elaborate film productions in recent times. The film, produced by Gokulam Gopalan, will be released simultaneously in five languages including Hindi and English on the auspicious day of Gandhi Jayanti on October 02, 2009.
Shot extensively in the forests of Wayanad, the home of Pazhassi Raja’s rebellion, the film involved approximately 1000 actors, most of them being specially trained to use bows and arrows, the traditional weapons used by Pazhassi Raja’s rebel forces.
Apart from superstars Mammootty and Sarath Kumar, the film also stars, Manoj K. Jayan, Thilakan, Padmapriya, Kanika and Jagathi Sreekumar in other pivotal roles. The roles of the East India officials are played by Peter Handley Evans and Harry Key among others.
Talking of the galaxy of stars, Hariharan, who has earlier directed such super hit and award winning movies like ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha’, ‘Sargam’, ‘Parinayam’ and ‘Ennu Swantham Janakikutty’, says, “The starcast is just apt for a period film as grand as this. Choosing Mammootty for the role of Veera Kerala Verma Pazhassi Raja came naturally to me looking at the personality and talent the stalwart carried with him. In fact, all actors were fixed in my mind beforehand for each and every character.”
Working on ‘Pazhassi Raja’ also gave him satisfaction for a different reason, Hariharan says. “Being the colonial masters, British suppressed a lot of our early freedom struggles. Hopefully Pazhassi Raja, the film, will not only make Indians aware and proud of a great son of this nation, but encourage them to re-discover similar such lost and unsung heroes.”
Mammootty, the three times national award recipient too is proud to be associated with ‘Pazhassi Raja’, describing it as, “the biggest film I have ever done.”
I hope these actors take things to a much more assured and a higher level in cinema.