Champion

Champion is a 2025 Telugu period action drama written and directed by Pradeep Advaitham, starring Roshan Meka as Michael Williams, a gifted footballer from Secunderabad whose dream of playing in London collides with the Bhairanpally revolt in 1947-era Hyderabad State. Anaswara Rajan makes her Telugu debut opposite him. The film opened in theatres on 25 December 2025, runs 166 minutes, and streams on Netflix.

What the story is about

Michael Williams is a talented footballer who is picked to play in London, but his move falls through because his father is branded a traitor to the British Empire. Desperate for a way out, Michael agrees to smuggle a consignment of weapons for an arms trafficker in exchange for a flight. When the police catch on and his truck breaks down, he is stranded in the village of Bairanpally, where the villagers are resisting the Razakars of Hyderabad State. The film sets one young man’s personal ambition against that historical conflict; we stop at the set-up here.

Cast and characters

• Roshan Meka as Michael C. Williams
• Anaswara Rajan as Chandrakala
• Nandamuri Kalyana Chakravarthy as Raaji Reddy, an ex-policeman turned revolutionary
• Ranvir Shorey as Inspector Hashim and Santhosh Prathap as Babu Deshmukh
• Vennela Kishore as Joseph and Kovai Sarala as his mother Andrea
• Hyper Aadi as Chakrapani, Muralidhar Goud as Kistayya and Harsha Vardhan as a patwari
• Prakash Raj as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Murali Sharma as Sundarayya

Crew and music

• Writer-director: Pradeep Advaitham
• Producers: Priyanka Dutt, G. K. Mohan and Gemini Kiran (Swapna Cinema, with Anandi Art Creations and Zee Studios)
• Music: Mickey J. Meyer; cinematography: R. Madhi; editing: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao

The film was launched in August 2024 under the Swapna Cinema banner. Its first glimpse showed the hero living under British rule, with football at the centre of the story.

Release and reception

Champion was released in theatres on 25 December 2025 as a Christmas release. Reviews were mixed. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu called it “an interesting idea that does not translate into an engaging film”, and Suresh Kavirayani of The New Indian Express described a “good story diluted by weak writing and execution”. Eenadu’s reviewer praised Roshan’s performance and the story but found the screenplay lacking. The Economic Times reported that the film did not succeed at the box office, and OTTplay put its gross at about ₹11 crore.

Where to watch Champion

Champion streams on Netflix. Our record, taken from the TMDB/JustWatch listing for India, dates its streaming start to 23 January 2026; Wikipedia gives 29 January 2026, so check Netflix for the exact date in your region.

More Telugu films like this on Tollywood Desk: Arjun Chakravarthy, Kannappa, Nagabandham: The Secret Treasure.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Champion and the reviews it summarises; box office from OTTplay; our own cast, crew, release and OTT records.