‘Champion’ Netflix Movie Review - A Showreel For Roshan Meka

Pradeep Advaitham's Champion is first and foremost a showreel for Roshan Meka. By placing him in the shoes of Michael C. Williams, the film celebrates the actor as a heroic figure. "Look," Champion seems to say, "here is a man who can play football (even when wounded), fight his opponents, perform well in theatre, and possess a heart so soft that it eventually develops kindness for oppressed villagers." If Michael is a messiah, then Meka is the vessel that gives him strength and vigor. Without Meka, there is no Michael. In other words, the actor is the real champion. He can dance, he can woo women, and, like a résumé, the film sells Meka as a talented thespian. Advaitham, however, frames this showreel with the weight of good intentions, perhaps to pre-empt such accusations. And I admit, those intentions do have some weight to them.

Consider what Advaitham is trying to convey here. The British, though villainous, are easy targets; the real enemies can also be Indians, and they can be just as ruthless as any foreign dictator. The British left India in 1947, but in Hyderabad, oppression continued under the likes of Qasim Razvi and groups such as the Razakars. In Champion, we witness a force of resistance in Bhairanpally village. The villagers, fed up with abuse and torture, decide to fight back. The lesson is potent: no evil hand can defeat angry and united citizens. What's more, Michael dreams of going to London, and Champion uses his ambition to argue that instead of leaving the country, we should stay and fight for change. Filth flourishes because those with the power to stop it often choose to ignore it and live inside their own comfortable shells.

All of this is appreciable and relevant. Unfortunately, the trappings of mass cinema and hero worship get in the way of the message. Advaitham errs in judgment—his primary objective becomes the elevation of the actor at the centre. Thus, after a pre-interval action block, we see villagers admiring and thanking Michael. The scene is played for comedy, leaving one more puzzled. Didn't anyone die during the fight? I could swear I saw people turn into corpses. Yet there is no funeral. No one is shown tending to or consoling the wounded; they are reduced to a throwaway line, and the film moves on. Advaitham wants to celebrate the spirit of Bhairanpally's residents, but he does so through Michael's star aura. The result is tonal whiplash, as a serious subject is undermined by Telugu-film clichés and an audience-pandering approach.

Unsurprisingly, then, the villains are cartoons who might as well carry placards announcing, "I am bad." They exist to push our buttons—such as when Michael is challenged to score a goal in twenty seconds to save the villagers. There is also a love story, because Advaitham wants to tick another box, though it is mildly reassuring that the woman is at least given a professional ambition. She is Tallapudi Chandrakala (Anaswara Rajan), an aspiring playwright and director. Based on the brief glimpses of her work, however, it's safe to say her plays aren't very good and survive mainly on good intentions. She might as well be Advaitham's surrogate; after all, she writes a story centred on Michael. If only someone had advised her to focus her vision on the villagers instead. Advaitham, too, might have benefitted from that lesson.

Final Score- [3/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times