Balan The Boy is directed by Chidambaram, whose last film was the much-acclaimed survival drama Manjummel Boys. It is written by Jithu Madhavan, whose last film as a director was Aavesham, a black comedy that, in a sense, was a survival drama about college kids. Both of them come together for this film, which is also a survival thriller. But the similarities end there. Balan The Boy is audacious in its attempt. It is intense. It revolves around a 5-year-old boy and his mother until he becomes an adult. It is a film in which it is almost impossible to predict what will come next from the word go till the end.
The film opens in what appears to be a jail. I say “what appears” because it is not made obvious to us. Not just in this scene, but across the film, the director and the writer adopt a storytelling style in which nothing is made obvious. So, if you are the type who watches a film while checking your phone in parallel, you are sure to miss what’s happening. This is a film that demands the viewer’s undivided attention. For example, a murder takes place. But we don’t get to see it. We are shown only the aftermath of that murder, from which we have to infer that a crime has taken place.
A young mother is released from jail along with her small son. We are never told the backstory of this lady, her husband, or why she ended up in jail. Did I say the backstory? We are never even told the actual names of the mother or the kid. I say “actual” name for a reason. The story then follows this pair as they go through their lives in different settings. In a casual conversation, her backstory is slipped in.
Some films work well because of their powerful storyline. Some because of their screenplay. Some because of how the scenes are stitched together. Balan The Boy is a film that works because of its characters. Of course, the chief protagonists, namely the mother and the kid, are well characterised. There is a unique bond between them, one we would not have seen in previous films. A bond that is shown to be formed as the title credits roll at the beginning. A detail we are most likely to miss. But there are other characters too. An old lady who is loudmouthed, almost reminiscent of the Padmini character in Poove Poochuda Vaa, briefly steals the show. Tovino’s character, which is a cameo, and so on.
While the film starts as a survival saga, it soon morphs into a thriller, and I must add – a dark thriller, a theme Malayalam films have normalised of late. Yet this film doesn’t have a villain per se. This is an interesting dichotomy, isn’t it? A dark survival thriller has no villain. Explaining this further would be like giving away spoilers, so I’m leaving it here. Enough to say that once the film is over, the first question that comes to mind is how the writer came up with this kind of storyline.
The performances of almost the entire cast are top-notch. Farzana Palathingal, who plays the mother in particular, is impressive, with her animated eyes doing much of the talking. The small kid, played by Adiseshan, is another great find. He doesn’t have much dialogue, but his expressive face conveys the emotional roller coaster he goes through in life. Dolly June, who plays the old lady, is the most impressive.
Shyju Khalid’s camera work is once again brilliant. The sober palette he has used throughout the film complements the film’s theme. Of course, there are some standout frames for which the credit must go to both Chidambaram and Shyju.
This is not to say the film is flawless. The pacing between the two halves is uneven. If Tovino’s portions were completely edited out, the film could still hold up as a full-length feature. But they remain as an interesting placeholder, distracting us from the main theme. Many of the initial scenes are contrived and seem to unfold in an unreal world. Yet we go with the flow thanks to the performances, the characters, and, of course, the screenplay. After all the build-up, the ending may feel a bit abrupt and tame for our liking. For once, the director chooses a very straightforward approach rather than being symbolic. But what seems to be the beginning of a new chapter for the protagonists compensates for the lack of a conventional climax.
With his three films in a row, namely Jan E Man, Manjummel Boys and now Balan The Boy, Chidambaram has emerged as a talented filmmaker who can combine deft storytelling with compelling filmmaking technique not just in Malayalam but nationally. And Malayalam cinema continues to surprise you with these gems.
Balan The Boy is now streaming on ZEE 5 and is a “Must Watch” if you are a fan of serious Malayalam cinema.
AnandKumarRSonFilms 
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