In the name of the mother and the son...

One of the gifts that the new Malayalam New Wave has given us is the freedom to be picky. The overall quality of post-2010 middle-of-the-road Malayalam cinema is so high, the range of gutsy themes so vast, and production values so stupendous despite minimal budgets, that being hard-to-please is not an indulgence for the traditional Malayalam film audience. It is a natural fallout of the wealth on offer.

It is in this context that Chidambaram's Balan: The Boy, written by Jithu Madhavan, arrived in theatres in June and recently on an OTT. Unlike the director's first two films, Jan.E.Man, and the all-India blockbuster Manjummel Boys, which featured large groups of man-children, Balan (itself meaning 'boy') is the saga of a mother determined to protect her son from her past.

It stars the gifted newcomers Adhisheshan and Muhammed Zinaan as the little and older versions of the titular protagonist, while another smashing debutant, Farzana Palathingal, plays his parent. Jean Paul Lal and Tovino Thomas are excellent as supporting characters who enter the picture in the second half.


Our introduction to the mother-son duo is in a jail. When she completes her prison term, we see that she does not wish to be traceable. So, she assumes a fake identity to take up a job. Each time someone tries to tie her down or exploit her, she gives herself and her boy a new name and backstory, which he willingly imbibes, since she has ingrained in him the conviction that they need no one but each other. Their unrelenting escapes give the narrative a restless air, designed to keep the viewer on edge.

The gripping sense of intrigue in Balan's first half owes much to the delicate strains of Sushin Shyam's music, and Shyju Khalid's stunning cinematography in stunning environs that are routinely framed to complement the mother's anxieties. The film is thin on characterisation, which is not a problem initially because of the build-up in the mother-son relationship.

But at the first hint of growth in his arc, shortly after he shows signs of feeling suffocated by her, she abruptly exits, at which point he plateaus. The son and a mystery then become the focus of the film. Both are engaging enough, but do not match up to the early promise of depth. It feels as if the boy's mother was cheated out of a film that was rightfully hers as much as his.

This failure to sustain a pivotal female character becomes an unfortunate reminder of the worst aspect of Chidambaram's earlier films. Women were marginal in Jan.E.Man, and virtually non-existent in Manjummel Boys. At first, Balan feels like an intentional course correction and a mea culpa by the director, with the centrality given to the mother, the non-judgemental gaze on her, and the number of female supporting characters (allies among them) written into the story, including a delightful, raspish, gun-toting grandma played with delicious glee by Dolly June.

But in the leading lady's case, screen time is served as a substitute for well-rounded characterisation, and she never rises beyond being a fascinating template. This issue in the script brings into relief plot holes that might have gone unnoticed in different circumstances.

A north Indian friend who admires Kerala tells me I'm too exacting with Malayalam films. But what is 'too exacting' when the bar is set high by Malayalam filmmakers themselves? Parallel to the ongoing drastic decline in Hindi cinema, as creators of middle-of-the-road Malayalam works continue to earn critical acclaim across the country, and find audiences beyond their traditional base in southern India, the best thing that could happen to them is a demanding core viewership that refuses to let them get complacent.

You could, of course, soak up the novelties of Chidambaram's Balan, and leave it at that. Or, you could also point out that its lacunae prevent it from bridging the gap between good cinema and its potential for greatness.