Director Chidambaram’s next film, Balan: The Boy, has its trailer dropping on June 5, 2026, at 6:00 PM IST. Following the big success of his survival thriller Manjummel Boys, the director is taking a different turn here — a smaller, more intimate and emotional story. The trailer sets up a nationwide promotional push ahead of the film’s multilingual release on June 19, 2026.
A warm reception at Cannes
The announcement follows the film’s market screening at the Marché du Film during the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on May 14. According to the producers, the screening drew a strong response, and the film earned praise from figures in the Indian industry including actor Kalyani Priyadarshan and filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Sudhir Mishra and Ashutosh Gowariker. The festival run gave the film visibility weeks ahead of its commercial release.
An intimate story
Described as a human drama about identity and belonging, Balan: The Boy is a clear change of tone for Chidambaram, who said he wanted to make a “small, cute story with heart” after Manjummel Boys. The script is by Jithu Madhavan, the writer-director of Romancham and Aavesham, and centres on a layered mother-son relationship and the emotional weight people carry from where they come from.
Chidambaram has brought back much of his Manjummel Boys team: Sushin Shyam on music, Shyju Khalid on cinematography, Vivek Harshan on editing and Ajayan Chalissery on production design. Actor-writer Ganapathi served as casting director and executive producer, putting together a fresh cast through auditions.
Release plans
Zee Music Company has acquired the worldwide audio rights. The film is produced by Venkat K. Narayana’s KVN Productions — its first Malayalam venture — along with Shailaja Desai Fenn’s Thespian Films, and releases across Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.
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