When Indian debut director Adhvaith Nayar first pitched his WWE-inspired film concept in 2019, the response was lukewarm. The original neo-noir version centered on costume wrestling in Kochi didn’t connect with actors or producers he approached. But when creative producer Shihan Shoukath saw a single image from the pitch deck – a costume wrestler doing a backflip from the turnbuckle into a crowd – he immediately recognized the film’s potential.
“If that one photo can sell the dream to me, I’m sure I can sell the dream to the rest of the world with this film,” says Shoukath, who is producing his first feature under Reel World Entertainment.
That conviction has resulted in “Chatha Pacha” (Do or Die), a Malayalam-language action-comedy about three young men with brother-like bonds who establish a WWE-style costume wrestling competition in the Mattancherry area of Kochi, Kerala.
Nayar had shelved the original wrestling concept and was developing a different comedy-drama when he connected with Shoukath and his brother Ishan, who is one of the leads in the film in late 2022. During a casual coffee meeting, the Shihan Shoukath asked if he had any other projects in development.
“I just told him, yeah, there was this old wrestling idea that I once had, but like, I don’t think it’s going to work out. No one really believed in it,” Nayar recalls. After viewing the old pitch deck on his phone, the Shoukaths were instantly sold. “The only thing they told me is that, you know, if this can be restructured and presented in a very different way, I think they were confident that there is something fresh to show to the audiences.”
The creative team rebuilt the screenplay from the ground up, maintaining the costume wrestling concept but pivoting away from the drug-related neo-noir tone to focus on universal themes. The shift proved crucial for the film’s broader appeal.
“We restructured the whole film in a way that it’s a universal narrative,” Shoukath explains. “This story really speaks to anyone in the world. I’m not talking about WWE fans, I’m talking about the emotions involved in the film, such as brotherhood and family bonds.”
The production committed significant resources to preparing its cast for the physical demands of costume wrestling. Lead actors Roshan Mathew, Arjun Ashokan, Vishak Nair and Ishan Shoukath underwent six to seven months of training before cameras rolled, including three to four months of intensive parkour, mobility work and fight choreography.
“Unless you went through that process of getting physically into a certain form and also agile and prepped for the kind of action that this film had, it’s not the kind of film that we can just walk on to set one fine day and just do your bit,” says Nair, who plays antagonist Cherian in the film.
Each actor developed distinct fighting styles inspired by iconic WWE wrestlers. Nair’s character uses capoeira techniques, while Mathew’s character Vetri employs fundamental wrestling moves with the spear as his signature move. Arjun Ashokan’s character uses the chokeslam, and Ishan Shoukath’s character Little delivers the sweet chin music kick.
For Ashokan, the project offered a chance to combine his childhood passion with his roots in the location. “I believe my childhood WWE craze really did a good job tilting me towards this role,” he says. “Also Mattancherry, that’s where my love of cinema started, where my career actually started.”
The training period also served as crucial bonding time for the ensemble cast, who portray characters with childhood friendships. “All of us started parkour and mobility trainings three months back and this definitely helped us get to know each other on a personal level and there started our friendship,” Ashokan says. Nair adds that the intensive preparation created “a pressure cooker kind of environment that the training sessions provided us.”
For Mathew, known for Busan winner “Paradise” and Toronto selection “The Elder One,” the project represented a departure into more commercial territory. “For the last few years, I kept thinking that I want to do something that’s really wild and loud and entertaining and commercial in every sense of the word,” says the actor, who previously worked with Nayar when the latter served as a directors’ assistant on “The Elder One.”
The production shot for some three months in the Mattancherry and Fort Kochi areas of Kerala, with the fight sequences scheduled after most dramatic scenes were completed. Nayar assembled a crew including stunt choreographer Kalai Kingson and music composing trio Shankar-Ehsan-Loy.
While Malayalam-language films have long been critically acclaimed for rich storytelling and filmmaking quality, recent years have seen them achieve unprecedented commercial success on a national scale. As they are made on relatively lower budgets, the return on investment is greater compared to their Hindi-language Bollywood counterparts.
Shoukath emphasizes the collaborative nature of Malayalam film production, contrasting it with approaches in other Indian industries. “Everything you spend, you see it on screen, and we don’t spend on luxuries,” he says. “Most of the time the actors were just chilling on set and seeing the shot from behind the monitor.”
The producer characterizes “Chatha Pacha” as a medium-budget production, comparable to recent Malayalam hits. He stresses the importance of fiscal discipline as the Kerala film industry grows. “I hope Malayalam doesn’t leave the space that we are at, because it can happen to anyone,” Shoukath says. “Even though our budgets might go higher, we still continue to spend on the film and nothing outside of it.”
While WWE fandom exists globally, the filmmakers are positioning “Chatha Pacha” as accessible to viewers unfamiliar with professional wrestling. “Come for the wrestling, stay for the brotherhood,” Nayar says, describing the film’s appeal. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. This is about a bunch of friends going far together.”
Ishan Shoukath, making his most substantial screen role to date, sees parallels between the film’s underdog characters and Reel World Entertainment’s position as a first-time production company. “There’s an inferiority complex amongst Malayalis that gives us an underdog spirit,” he says. “In our movie, our characters are a bunch of underdogs looking for a second chance. And in a way, parallely, so is Reel World Entertainment.”
The filmmakers attribute much of Malayalam cinema’s recent creative success to the region’s discerning audiences. “It’s an audience here that’s open to all kinds of cinema, but they also won’t just buy anything that you try and sell to them,” Mathew says. “You have to make it believable. You have to make it plausible.”
Ashokan emphasizes the audience’s role as enablers of creative risk-taking. “The best thing about the Malayali audience is that, if we give them good stories they will wholeheartedly accept it, our audience are our biggest promoters,” he says. “This helps us not to hold back and experiment different stories in the Malayalam film industry.”
Nair adds that Kerala audiences have consistently supported quality filmmaking across decades, not just in recent years. “We’ve had masterful filmmakers come out of Kerala. Superficial things just don’t fly with the people here,” he says. “It takes a little something special to entertain them.”
Shoukath believes the industry’s emphasis on writers and storytelling sets Malayalam cinema apart. “We celebrate writers, and it starts from the writer,” he says. “That’s where the story starts, and that’s where it ends as well.”
Following “Chatha Pacha,” Mathew has an Prime Video series scheduled for March and several Malayalam projects planned for 2026. Nair has completed work on the Hindi-language Netflix series “Akka” and has a Kannada-language film in development. Arjun Ashokan is attached to “Disco” and a Tamil-language romantic comedy titled “Brocode.”
For Nayar, his debut feature represents the culmination of years working as an assistant director since 2017. “My actors, my crew, my producer – it’s all been so collaborative right from the beginning,” the director says. “If and when the film does really well, it’s going to be a direct result of that.”
“Chatha Pacha” film releases in theaters worldwide on Jan. 22.