1. Sure the Britishers did that; but they had an ulterior motive. First they just wanted to trade and make money. Second some of them wanted to convert us. Third, they wanted to rule us. In this mix, there no doubt was some good hearted souls who did it for their own reasons.
2. British were masters (and probably still are) at what they did. Please do a search for one "Dr. Kathryn Castle" "children literature british" {additional search terms}. You will read essays about how the British systematically strove to mold their own citizens - including children to create the vast Imperial dynasty they had. Very interesting.
3. Talking about the average Joe; until Manu Smriti was recently (relatively speaking) discovered the average Joe and Jane in India did not hear about it either. Yet that is used constantly to beat the c*ap of Hindus and our culture. As if Indians constantly consulted Manu Smriti everyday. How many of us were even taught about him or his smriti and its contents?
4. Like you say, tamil kings are mentioned in the history books as an after thought. I studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya - subjects were in Hindi and English. So I was never schooled to read/write Tamil. Whatever I know is little bit of training after school. And the CBSE books had Tamil History like the way you mention. I don't have any recollection of reading about Tiruvalluvar - the greatest dude IMHO :-))
5. I don't agree to the point that kids will be led astray. If they are going astray then it is the fault of the Parents. Zimple.
6. Lastly but not leastly, the differentiation of "masses" vs "me" or "us" is little elitist. And what do Chinese say about converting every crisis/danger into opportunity. This gives folks like you and other scholars in educating the "masses", no? Someone could organize a sabha or seminar and explain. Yes, nobody is going to turn up. I take that as a valid argument. But there will be other film makers who will sense money in adding "history bit" {no longer we would need malayalam padam bit :-)))) if you know what I mean}.
7. I fear our history and culture fading into oblivion; any effort to evoke some interest is a plus point. Enna panradhu.....we have to take artistic liberty too - it comes with the territory.