Malayalam cinema has another big release on the way. Chidambaram, the director behind the hit survival drama Manjummel Boys, returns with his second feature, Balan: The Boy, a psychological thriller opening in theatres worldwide on Friday, June 19. The film already screened at the Marché du Film, the industry market at the Cannes Film Festival, last month.
It picked up a notable endorsement at a technical roundtable hosted by Cue Studio. Veteran director Priyadarshan, currently making the horror-comedy Bhooth Bangla, said after watching a private cut that Balan: The Boy is the best film he has seen in any language in the past two years, and predicted it will be remembered as one of Mollywood’s finest.
A slow-burn thriller
Priyadarshan was particularly struck by the film’s pacing — deliberately slow, he said, yet gripping from the first frame to the last — and credited its screenplay as the real backbone of the project. That script is by Jithu Madhavan, best known for the comedies Romancham (2023) and Aavesham (2024), working here in a far darker register.
The plot, shot in Kannur and Mangalore and kept tightly under wraps, follows a young barefoot boy named Balan (newcomer Adisheshan) searching for his missing mother (Farazana Palathingal), who seems to keep changing and slipping away from some unseen hold over her life. The trailer’s unsettling hook — the boy asking, “Mother, what is my new name?” before she whispers something in his ear — has already set cinephile forums analysing.
The film drew early praise from filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma too, who called a preliminary cut “beyond fantastic” after watching it with Chidambaram.
The ‘Manjummel’ team reunites
Chidambaram brought back much of his Manjummel Boys crew: cinematographer Shyju Khalid, editor Vivek Harshan, production designer Ajayan Chalissery and composer Sushin Shyam, who provides a folk-tinged score.
The film is produced by Venkat K. Narayana under KVN Productions, the banner’s first Malayalam project after multilingual titles like Yash’s Toxic and Vijay’s Jana Nayagan. Rather than building around established stars, Chidambaram and executive producer Ganapathi cast mostly new faces found through statewide auditions, including Chandu Salimkumar.
The one prominent name is Tovino Thomas, who appears in an extended 15-minute cameo. Chidambaram said he cast Tovino for his range rather than his star power, and promised audiences a rawer side of the actor than they’ve seen before. Balan: The Boy releases simultaneously in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam.
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