Director Chidambaram, who directed Manjummel Boys, will return with his next release in June. Titled Balan The Boy, the film is written by Aavesham’s Jithu Madhavan. KVN Productions and Thespian Films, the producers of the film, announced that the film will be released on June 19 in the Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada languages.
The film's press release describes it as a “deeply human story about identity, belonging and the invisible weight of where we come from”. Balan “promises an emotionally layered cinematic experience,” it said.
The film is set to be featured at the Marché du Film, the official film market held alongside the Cannes Film Festival. The festival will take place from May 12 to 23, with the film scheduled for a market screening on May 14, as per a press statement.
Talking about the film, Chidambaram said, “Balan: The Boy is a film about what we carry without knowing… the weight of where we come from, and the hunger to find where we belong. I made this film for the person who has felt both of those things deeply and never found the words for them. Cannes has always been a home for cinema that trusts its audience with exactly that kind of truth.”
Venkat K Narayana of KVN Productions said, “Balan: The Boy is not just a film, it is a statement. Malayalam cinema is making work the world cannot afford to ignore, and we are at Cannes because we believe the film belongs at the centre of that conversation.”
The film reunites much of the team from Chidambaram's hit Malayalam film Manjummel Boys, with Shyju Khalid as cinematographer, Vivek Harshan as editor, Sushin Shyam as music composer, and Ajayan Chalissery as production designer.