Close on the heels of winning the Best Director at the National Awards announced a few days ago, Bala declared the commencing of his next project ‘Avan Ivan’ in Chennai on Monday.

“The film will feature Vishal and Arya in lead roles. It will be completed in six months,” the filmmaker told reporters and added: “Unlike my earlier movies, ‘Avan Ivan’ will have an extra dose of comedy, besides action and family sentiments.”

When asked to elaborate on the roles played by the lead actors, Bala said, “At this point of time, I can only say ‘Avan’ is Vishal and ‘Ivan’ is Arya. You would know the remaining details while watching the film on screen.”

“The movie produced by Kalpathi S Agoram for AGS Entertainers will be shot in and around Thenkasi and Sengottai. Janani Iyer is one of the heroines. A search is on for the other heroine,” he said.

On roping in Yuvan Shankar Raja to score music, Bala said, “since the script required some remixes, I preferred Yuvan, son of the great maestro Illayaraja. I can’t ask for remixes while working with Illayaraja.”

Noted writer S Ramakrishnan will pen the dialogues, while cinematography is by Arthur Wilson, Bala added.