Look, if your timeline hasn’t been flooded with Mammootty’s slow-mo walk or Arjun Ashokan throwing down in a makeshift wrestling ring, you’ve probably been completely off the grid.
After a wildly polarizing theatrical run last month, Adhvaith Nayar’s Chatha Pacha just dropped on Netflix today. The Twitter discourse has been exhausting, the reels are everywhere, and now the real question is: should you actually spend your Thursday night watching it?
Here is the honest, no-BS breakdown.
What We’re Dealing With
Forget the usual Mollywood slice-of-life drama. Chatha Pacha is a loud, unhinged, neon-soaked love letter to 90s pro-wrestling.
It follows a bunch of Kochi guys who watched way too much WWE growing up and decide to start their own underground wrestling fight club. The casting is spot-on—Roshan Mathew, Arjun Ashokan, and Vishak Nair headline the crew, and they look like they are having the absolute time of their lives in the ring.
As a massive bonus, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy made their Malayalam debut for the soundtrack, and the BGM absolutely slaps during the fight sequences.
The Reality Check: First Half Magic vs. Second Half Mess
Let’s cut right to the chase—it is not a perfect movie.
The First Hour: Pure adrenaline. It’s genuinely hilarious, the aesthetics are killer, and the wrestling choreography is shockingly good. It knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be.
The Fumble: But then the second half happens. The pacing falls off a cliff, the script gets tangled, and it suddenly takes itself way too seriously. It’s a classic case of a movie losing its initial spark and leaning too hard into style over substance.
The Walter Factor: Wehave to talk about the elephant in the room. Mammootty’s extended cameo as “Walter” was the worst-kept secret in Indian cinema this year. I won’t spoil the exact context, but his entry sequence alone is worth your Netflix subscription. Even when the plot totally loses its mind in the third act, Mammookka’s sheer aura practically drags the movie across the finish line.
The Final Verdict: Stream it. Just calibrate your expectations.
Don’t hit play expecting a flawless cinematic masterpiece. But if you grew up trying to put your cousins in a chokehold on the living room sofa and just want a ridiculously stylish, switch-your-brain-off popcorn flick? It’s going to hit the spot perfectly.
