Mammootty-Hariharan-MT Vasudevan Nair teamed again for the mega budget historic story based movie, "Pazhassi Raja". The movie made on a huge budget of about 15 crore rupees is expected to have a wide release in the second week of April.

The team had earlier made one of the milestones of the Malayalam film industry, "Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha". This is an unforgettable film in the Mollywood. M.T. Vasudevan Nair told us an unheard story of Chanthu becoming a hero and Aromal Chekavar, a villain in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha.

There are three heroines with Padma Priya appearing as an Adivasi girl, Kanihaa as his wife and Linda Arsenio as an English woman. Tamil film star Sarath Kuma will make his debut in Malayalam films as "Edachena Kunkan", the best friend of Pazhassi Raja.

Thilakan, Nedumudi Venu, Jagathy Sreekumar, Captain Raju, Lalu Alex, Manoj K Jayan, Biju Menon, Kalabhavan Mani, Suresh Krishna, Subair, Siddique, Roshan, Manikuttan, Kanika, Padmapriya, Urmila Unni, Valsala Menon, Nikhila play other important roles in the film. Suman will play the role of "Pazhaiveetan Chandu", who is the villain in the movie.

Pazhassi Raja is filmed using the latest technical advancements like the usage of Panavision camera. Pazhassiraja is the first mega budget movie in Malayalam film industry. Venu is the cameraman and Ilayaraja will score the music.

Pazhassi Raja was completed in more than ten schedules in ten locations, in about 140 days of shooting. The film is produced by Gokulam Gopalan in the banner of Gokulam Films.

The story is about the first organized revolt against British rule, led by Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja of the Padinjare Kovilakom of the Kottayam family near Thalassery in Kannur district. Pazhassi Raja faced threats from many quarters during his rule, from the British East India Company and the Mysore ruler, Tipu Sultan.

Raja was agitated by the unpopular revenue policy followed by the East India Company in Malabar .He then threatened to stop collecting taxes if the Company continued with this mode of revenue collection.

Pazhssi Raja had to fled his palace and take refuge in the forests with his wife and immediate attendants. Raja tried to continue his warfare with the help of aadivasas and his loyal Kurichiyar tribe.

On November 30 1805, the Raja was surrounded by Thomas Harvey Babar, a young British officer on charge of suppressing Pazhaassi and was shot dead in an operation on the banks of Mavila Thodu.

This much anticipated movie will be released during Vishu season this year. We can wait and watch if the trio-combination has worked out their magic in this movie as well.