Mention the three box office hits in a row and Chidambaram acknowledges with a smile. As his new film, Balan: The Boy, continues to draw people to theatres and garner pan-Indian recognition, the director looks at it differently. “We feel lucky to be discussed at a time when there is so much content to consume. This level of appreciation was not expected. The fact that it has communicated with the people the way we intended has brought immense satisfaction,” says the filmmaker.He has proven with Balan his belief that the strength of Malayalam cinema lies in its “stories, the drama and performances”. Written by Jithu Madhavan, the director of two huge hits in Malayalam- Romancham and Aavesham, the film is about a mother (Farzana Palathingal), a murder convict, and her young son (Adisheshan KR), both of whom are shown as living in the prison when the movie begins. Once they step out of jail, it becomes a story of their survival. The mother chooses to be on the move with her boy, taking on new identities at each juncture, so as to avoid forming any kind of attachment with anyone.
Farzana Palathingal and Adisheshan KR in a still from Balan.
| Photo Credit:
Rohith K Suresh
After a memorable debut with Jan.E.Man and a blockbuster second movie, Manjummel Boys, Chidambaram was getting ready to step into Hindi cinema with a big project. It was while waiting for that film to take off that he chanced upon Jithu’s story. “What struck me the most was the setting. Eventhough Jithu was busy with his next project [in Tamil with Suriya], he sat down with me to work on the screenplay. We held several discussions, analysing every aspect of the plot. Shyju ikka [cinematographer Shyju Khalid] would also join us often. The foundation of the film is Jithu’s story – he had traced the boy’s journey so well leading towards the climax. I added a few scenes, which were needed for the flow of the story. Basically we sat down to find a common voice and ended up having around a dozen drafts before locking the final script.”
