Popping on Champion on Netflix for that classic underdog sports flick full of fire and feels? You might walk away feeling meh. Pradeep Advaitham directs this one with Roshan Meka leading the pack, joined by Anaswara Rajan and Nandamuri Kalyana Chakravarthy. It swings for the fences mixing football dreams, history, and a village revolt, but it doesn’t quite land the knockout emotional hit it’s gunning for.
We follow Michael Williams (Roshan Meka), a Secunderabad kid obsessed with soccer and dreaming big about London. His dad’s old ties to the freedom fight throw a wrench in everything. Starts off like your standard sports yarn, then pivots hard into a bigger story about locals battling the Razakars in Bhairanpally. Cool concept on paper, but the switch-up feels bumpy in practice.
Roshan Meka dives in with real heart—he nails the athlete build and sells Michael’s ups and downs, even if the script leaves him hanging sometimes. Anaswara Rajan pops in her Telugu debut with easy charm, but her love story gets crammed in way too late to really spark. The rest of the cast, like Nandamuri Kalyana Chakravarthy, brings some gravitas, though a lot of them play more like plot devices than real people.
On the tech side, it shines. Camera work nails the old-school vibe with warm, dusty shots and big landscapes that pull you into the time period. Sets look spot-on without overdoing the stagey feel. Mickey J. Meyer’s soundtrack is a winner—tunes hit you in the gut, and the score hustles to amp up the tension when things slow down.
Where it fumbles is pacing. The opening drags forever planting seeds that fizzle out. By the time it dives into the main clash, the heart-tugging moments fall flat. The soccer stuff gets sidelined right when the politics ramps up, leaving it feeling like it’s chasing two rabbits. And that big finale? It wants to be epic and moving, but it just… isn’t.
Don’t get me wrong—there’s good stuff here. It’s got pure intentions, sharp production values, and digs into a slice of Telugu history we don’t see enough. Roshan Meka’s got star potential, and you can feel the movie’s passion peeking through now and then, even if it doesn’t grab you by the throat.
Bottom Line: Champion tries to mash up sports grit with historical fightback but doesn’t fully gel. Still worth a casual stream on Netflix if you’re into sincere stories set in the past—bumps and all.
