‘Mohanlal, Mammootty, and Spider-Man’: Meet Adhisheshan, the boy wonder from ‘Balan: The Boy’

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Adhisheshan, the seven-year-old child actor, and his acting coach, Ajithlal Sivalal, speak about how they prepared for the recent Malayalam film ‘Balan: The Boy’

Published - July 31, 2026 02:44 pm IST

Adhisheshan with his acting trainer Ajithlal Sivalal (left) and in a still from ‘Balan: The Boy’ | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement and Rohith K Suresh

The wide-eyed boy born in a prison, raised by criminals and a gritty mother under different identities, has left a lasting impression on Malayali film buffs. Seven-year-old Adhisheshan has impressed everyone with his screen presence and precision of expression in the recent Malayalam filmBalan: The Boy, directed by Manjummel Boys maker Chidambaram. When we get on a call with the child actor, endearingly called Pikku, he has just finished his tuition to make up for the missed classes. With all the promotions and post-release celebrations underway, he has not been able to attend his classes, says his mother.

A smile flashed across the boy’s face when he spotted Ajithlal Sivalal, his acting trainer, on the call. The trainer and his student are meeting after almost a year. “Adhisheshan had a delightful energy and presence about him,” recalls Ajithlal.

Working with children requires a different approach, says Ajithlal, an actor and acting trainer in the Malayalam film industry. “We cannot use jargon as we do with the adult actors. So, we played games. And, we did a lot of singing, sometimes in gibberish or alien languages. But overall, the mood was playful. They might hate acting if we make it so serious early on. Pikku was doing even serious scenes with a playful approach.”

Ajithlal and Adhisheshan pulled up their sleeves to give us a glimpse into their rehearsal room fun. The exercise was for activating imagination. Ajithlal started his first prompt: “Adhi, there is a plate of hot fragrant biryani in front of you!” And Adhisheshan’s eyes instantly brighten up. And then Ajithlal says, “Ayye, it has some stench,” and the child’s brow furrows to enact doubt. And then Ajithlal goes on, “Öh, suddenly you hear a sound from the back. Is it a ghost?” Adhisheshan looks over his shoulder with a sharp turn. He does not anticipate; he is in the moment, just responding to the prompts.

Adhisheshan with his acting trainer Ajithlal Sivalal | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Adhisheshan was only five-and-a-half years old when he went into training with Ajithlal. “The brief I got from the director’s team was to fix his gaze for the camera. And then I wanted to build his craft that would enable him to deliver the creative requirements of the filmmaker on set,” explains Ajithlal. He followed up on his exercises at home with the help of his mother in the next six months prior to shooting. By the time the filming began, Adhisheshan was ready to jump into the process with presence and spontaneity.

His natural flair for truthful reactions comes through in the movie as well. The boy recalls being genuinely scared when Farzana Palathingal, the actor who plays his mother, took him by his collar to scold him in one of the scenes. “Farzana chechi was very scary. It came as a surprise to me. I responded in a way I genuinely felt. The director also hadn’t briefed me about this scene prior to the shoot.”

A still from ‘Balan: The Boy’ | Photo Credit: ROHITH K SURESH

In the film, Balan’s character graph is not a linear one. There are ups and downs – from being playful and childlike to being clever and spooky. The boy, separated from his mother, ends up in a smugglers’ den and doing errands for them. The idea was to approach even these grim realities with a playful approach, says the trainer. “We played with the tools of breath and imagination. Instead of relying on personal memories from his life, I would give him sensorial prompts, like a bad smell or irritation from an ant bite. The imagination exercises helped.”

Creating a safe, gentle space for the children is key to this process, adds Ajithlal. Stressing that their mental health is the priority, he says that when these child actors grow up, they must look back at these processes with joy. “We wanted to offer a nurturing ambience to make him comfortable enough to feel playful. For a few days, we were working in a home-like ambience, with his mother around him.”