Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 7 (IANS): Malayalam superstar Mammooty and his films dominate the Kerala State Film Awards 2009 which were announced by State Minister for Culture M.A. Baby Tuesday.

Mammooty is named the best actor for his roles in "Paleri Manikam Oru Pathirakolapathakam", while his film "Pazhassi Raja" won the best director award for Hariharan.

Together both the films bagged 12 awards, with "Pazhassi Raja" winning eight and "Paleri Manikam..." four, including the best film award.

"'Pazhassi Raja' really merited all these awards because it was a technical masterpiece and was breath-taking evoking a bygone era," said Sai Paranjape who headed the jury that saw 36 feature films, two children's film and two documentaries.

Mammooty, who is on a month-long holiday, was not available for comments. But Renjith said that it is great moment for him because his efforts have been appreciated well.

Swetha, who was declared the best actress for her performance in "Paleri Manikam...", said initially she was apprehensive about the role because the character was slightly older than her age.

"Renjith was adamant that I should do it because it was a character that had lot of potential. Just because he insisted, I took it and I am so happy that I have won an award," she said.

Another Malayalam superstar Mohanlal's film "Ividae Swarghamanu" was named the best popular film.

But Paranjape feels that the quality of Malayalam films has come down.

"Of all the films which we saw, it was just under 10 films that had the required quality. I hope this situation would improve," she said.