‘Chatha Pacha’ Is the Most Physically Demanding Film I’ve Done: Roshan Mathew

Among the many reasons why Chatha Pacha: The Ring of Rowdies ranks among the most hyped Malayalam films of the year is that it is the first Indian film to be based on WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), a childhood obsession for most Indian kids who grew up in the 90s and 2000s. The film is about the dream of a few 20-somethings to recreate a local version of a wrestling tournament—set in the idiosyncratic world of Kochi’s Mattanchery and its residents.

Roshan Mathew, one of the two leads in the film, explains how the idea was always to try their best to make the action sequences as authentic as possible. The use of ropes was kept to a minimum, and the training that went in before the shoot prepared most of the film’s crew for what was expected to be a physically daunting experience.

“We did three different types of training for Chatha Pacha,” Roshan Mathew explains. “One was customised to each person, based on their appearance in the film and how one should look as the character. The second was done to injury-proof us, and that was conducted by a trainer named Davis. That revolved around training the set of muscles that are most prone to danger. The focus was also on the smaller muscle groups which deal with the most amount of strain during these dynamic (wrestling) moves,” he says.

“We also worked with a trainer named Shravan, who taught us some stunts like flips and rolls. They are not exactly combat moves, but they’re to be learnt to shoot stunt sequences. It includes how to jump and make it look better on screen, or how to fall and then go into a roll immediately. The idea is to make all the moves look cooler without hurting yourself.”

He also spoke about how each actor/wrestler was given a specific set of moves based on what they were comfortable with. “This informed the choreography we were each given by Kalai Kingson, the film’s stunt choreographer. He saw us practise during these training sessions and his team came up with moves that complemented each of our strengths. So, if one actor was good with front rolls or dives, his moves were based on that,” he adds, stating that the toughest move for him to learn was the spear, which goes into a dive roll.

Physically, Roshan reiterates that he hasn’t yet had a more demanding film. “I’ve done a film called Chera, which was more physically difficult,” but in terms of how much work has gone into it, he feels number one on his list has to be Chatha Pacha—a requirement when the film’s title itself suggests the attitude with which everyone worked on the film.

But What Does ‘Chatha Pacha’ Mean?

Sanoop Thykoodam, the film’s main writer, explains why the film is called Chatha Pacha. He says, “The film’s title came up accidentally. It’s a phrase we use often, especially in Ernakulam, and its usage works along the lines of, ‘Let’s not overthink this... chatha pacha.’ When you hear the title for the first time, there were people who thought it was ‘pacha thatha’ as in green parrot. But that’s not it; it means that, ‘Even if we were to die trying, we’d hit the green.’”

In other words, “do or die,” as they say in English. Sanoop adds, “We have an impossible goal to achieve, one that might kill us in our effort. But when you decide to still achieve that… that’s what chatha pacha means.”