The magnum opus Mammootty-starrer ‘Pazhassi Raja,' written by M.T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Hariharan, won eight awards at the State film awards for 2009 announced on Tuesday.

The movie won the best director award for Hariharan and best screenplay award for veteran writer M T Vasudevan Nair. Apart from these, the awards won by ‘Pazhassi Raja' includes that for second best actor award for Manoj K. Jayan, second best female actor award for Padmapriya, best film editor for Sreekar Prasad, best art director award for Muthuraj, best costumer award for Natarajan, and best dubbing artiste for Shobby Tilakan, who lip-sync-ed for Sarath Kumar.

This is the third best director award for Hariharan who had been early been accorded with the same in Sargam and Parinayam, while M T is given the state recognition for the tenth time, in his illustrious career of forty years.