Director Hariharan's recent magnum opus historical film Pazhassi Raja made in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, won the Ujala-Asianet Film Awards 2009 for the best film, Asianet vice-president Sreekantan Nair told newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

Superstar Mohanlal was adjudged the best actor (Bhramaram, Ividam Swargamanu) and Kavya Madhavan as the best female actor (Banaras). Mammootty was selected as the Millennium Actor, Prithviraj as the Youth Icon of the Year and Lakshmi Rai as Popular Heroine (Ividam Swargamanu, To Harihar Nagar, Chattambinadu). Director Ranjith was selected as the best director for Paleri Manikyam.

The other award-winners were: Sreenivasan—best character actor (Passenger, Makante Achan), Shwetha Menon—best character actress (Paleri Manikyam), Lalu Alex—best villain (Ividam Swaragamanu), Jagadish—best comedian (To Harihar Nagar), Ranjith Sankar—best screenplay writer (Passenger), Vayalar Sarath—best lyrics (Neelathamara), Deepakdev—best music director (Puthiyamukham), Sankar Mahadevan—best male singer ('Picha vacha naal muthal' in Puthiyamukham), K.S. Chithra—best female singer ('Kunnathe konnakkum' in Pazhassi Raja), Baby Nivedita—best child artiste (Bhramaram, Kanakanmani), Jayasurya and Roma—best star pair (Uthara Swayamvaram), Nishan—best debutant actor (Rithu), Archana Kavi—best debutante actress (Neelathamara), Ajayan Vincent—best cinematographer (Bhramam) and Vijay Sankar—best editing (Bhramaram).

Sarathkumar (Pazhassi Raja), Manoj K. Jayan (Pazhassi Raja) and Kanihaa (Pazhassi Raja, Bhagyadevatha) were selected for the special jury awards. P.V. Gangadharan won lifetime achievement award and Resool Pookutty, a special award for his notable contribution to the Indian film world. The winners, other than the special jury awards, were selected on the basis of nominations from viewers. The winners would also be presented statuettes conceived by Artist Namboodiri.