Chatha Pacha review: Roshan Mathew, Arjun Ashokan wrestling drama settles for a mid-card bout than aim for the title

Chatha Pacha movie review: Despite its novel setting and committed performances, this Roshan Mathew and Arjun Ashokan-starrer plays it safe and ends up as an emotionally flat outing

Arjun Ashokan, Ishan Shoukath and Roshan Mathew in Chatha Pacha

Chatha Pacha story: Little aka Thomas comes back to Kochi and reunites with his estranged brother Savio, hoping to reignite a childhood dream - staging a weekly WWE-style event with their friends and generating revenue out of it. But when the third brother, Vetri, joins the fray and a foe further fuels the fire, the brothers might have to battle each other to hold on to what they love the most.

Chatha Pacha review: Debutant director Adhvaith Nayar’s Chatha Pacha was on most film aficionados’ much-anticipated movies of 2026 list - primarily for revolving around WWE-style matches and also for the bunch of talents, including Roshan Mathew, Arjun Ashokan and Vishak Nair, that the team had assembled to play the roles of these wrestling entertainers in a movie set in Fort Kochi. It was the quirkiness in the trailer and posters that also fueled this anticipation. But does the movie truly reach for main-event glory?

The makers of the film, which is based on a story by Adhvaith and is scripted by Sanoop Thykoodam, already had a task cut out for them; to adapt a WWE-style wrestling drama in Kerala’s setting. Given how much the sports entertainment is already popular among the audience, who might have grown up hearing the names of Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Steve Austin, The Rock and John Cena to mention a few, the makers don’t allot time trying to familiarise the concept. That’s a plus. Instead, they try to build up the lead characters, their love for wrestling and introduce to the viewers why they have decided to stage the ‘American costume gusthi’ in Fort Kochi. This too is done smoothly.

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While building up this weekly event, there’s also a parallel trope of three brothers - Little (Ishan Shoukath), Savio (Arjun Ashokan) and Vetri (Roshan Mathew), and it’s the change in their dynamics that serves as the crux of the second half. But here is where the makers, despite having a quirky plot, setting and characters, decide to play it safe and, in doing so, make a film that could have reached for glory, end up settling as a mid-card match that doesn’t extract any emotions from those watching it.

The predictability of the second half takes away the fun that Chatha Pacha promised in its first ‘Friday Night Fight’, where it had a character named Basmasuran, who was just dumped by his girlfriend, rush to the ring bathed in powder to bring down an 8-ft wrestler - all the while grappling with his emotions. The same sequence was followed by a match between two brothers, showcasing their love for WWE with thrilling moonsaults, suplexes and even a chokeslam in the middle of the ring.

But it’s when the fight between the brothers turns real that these WWE elements take a backseat, and also the entertainment. The writing doesn’t surprise you one bit, and the quirkiness doesn’t last. The action scenes are choreographed well, and Anend C Chandran does a brilliant job of capturing these fights in the ‘squared circle’. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music, however, is found wanting, as a movie of this nature, either had to have a lot of theatrics for the audience to be hooked or have the music to rouse them. Chatha Pacha lacked both, and maybe the cameo was a way to counter this. But that too doesn’t work.

Arjun Ashokan and Roshan Mathew do the best with what they have been offered, with both of them building physiques that make the in-ring action convincing. Vishak Nair also stands out in the movie as the scheming Cherian, but there’s also an identity crisis of how the makers want to present him - someone serious or a comic caricature. To his credit, Vishak aces both. Vedhika Sreekumar is also a treat to watch in the film, which also has Ishan, Minon and Siddique and a forgettable cameo from a superstar.

Chatha Pacha verdict: Despite the novelty in its setting and elements, Chatha Pacha is comfortable playing to familiar beats, delivering a mid-card bout instead of being a main-event match.

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