Balan, the Manjummel Boys director's next, gets a Cannes market slot

Chidambaram, the director behind 2024 Malayalam blockbuster Manjummel Boys, is taking his next film, Balan: The Boy, to the Marché du Film at Cannes. A market screening is set for May 14 at 20:00, Olympia 9, ahead of any Indian release date.

Producers KVN Productions and Thespian Films are pitching the film as a story about identity, survival and the bond between a mother and her child. “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,” Chidambaram said in a statement issued ahead of the screening. “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.”

For Thespian Films’ Shailaja Desai Fenn, the Cannes slot closes a personal loop. “When I visited in 2022, I made a quiet promise to myself, that the next time I come here, it will be with a film,” she said. “Standing here today with Balan The Boy, I can tell you that some promises are worth every sleepless night it takes to keep them.”

KVN Productions’ Venkat K Narayana, who also produced Dhanush’s Kara, framed the screening as a positioning play for the wider Malayalam slate. “Balan The Boy is not just a film, it is a statement,” he said. “Malayalam cinema is making work the world cannot afford to ignore, and we are at Cannes because we believe Balan The Boy belongs at the centre of that conversation.”

The film is written by Jithu Madhavan (Aavesham), shot by Shyju Khalid, scored by Sushin Syam, designed by Ajayan Chalissery and edited by Vivek Harshan. The cast is built entirely from auditioned newcomers, the same pattern Chidambaram used on Manjummel Boys.

The Marché slot is a market screening rather than an official festival selection, but it puts the film in front of international distributors before any home rollout.