Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha

Chandu belongs to the Chekavar, warriors hired out to settle other people's quarrels by duel. He grew up an orphan in his uncle's house, and he is far more gifted than his cousin Aromal. When Aromal's jealousy makes life impossible he leaves and attaches himself to Aringodar, a rival master. Then two brothers in a property dispute hire precisely those two men to fight it out, and Chandu has to decide where he stands. The story comes from the folk ballads of North Malabar, where Chandu is the traitor and his name is spoken as a byword for treachery. Writing the screenplay, M. T. Vasudevan Nair tells it from Chandu's side and asks how the accusation was built in the first place. It won national awards for Mammootty and for the script.