When the story is about a mother and child, there is bound to be love, tenderness and a complicated bond that transcends every challenge in their lives. And director Chidambaram's latest film, Balan: The Boy, takes this relationship and presents it in a novel manner as a survival drama. 

After the success of Jan.E.Man and Manjummel Boys, the director heads in a new direction with this film that's written by Jithu Madhavan, who is known for the superhits Romancham and Aavesham. 

Interestingly, Balan: The Boy is also a psychological thriller focusing on the themes of identity and survival (which was key in Manjummel Boys) in a world that is unforgiving.At its core, the film revolves around a young boy and his mother who are in jail for a crime unbeknownst to the audience.

When the mother and son are released from Kannur jail, she is told by the queenpin of the prisoners, sex worker Shamnatha (Beena Antony), that she would come in search of her when she is released. 

The frightened mother, who wants to protect her son at all costs, leaves Kannur with him and the duo head towards smaller villages where they live sans identity or status and blend into the background, wishing to be invisible. 

With every move from village to village, the mother feeds the boy fresh stories at bedtime - not like those in the fairytales that kids generally hear - but stories which give them new identities and backstories that give them anonymity and protection.

The mother, who refrains from developing any kind of attachment to anyone, becomes Indhu, Mary and Sherly, while the boy becomes Abhijit Kumar, Adiseshan and Vasudev, obediently remembering every detail about their life that his mother has drilled into him. 

It's finally when the mother ends up looking after an elderly lady, Ammoomma, in a wheelchair in a village, that they begin to find some semblance of normalcy and the boy starts to go to school. 

Source:Ndtv