Test Score Right with the Characters and the Casting; Falters Along the Way
Review by Rajeshwari Kalyanam
“Life is like a game. The beauty of it lies in the rules. Rule number one and probably the only rule is that you have to enter the field and play. You don’t have a choice. The moment you understand this – Your test begins”
The movie Test begins with this poignant statement on life relating it to a cricket match.
The entire premise of the film is this. And the three protagonists Nayanthara as Kumudha – a cricket lover and school teacher, Siddharth as Arjun, India’s top Test cricketer, and Madhavan as Saravanan, an MIT graduate pursuing his dream with not much luck – react to this philosophy in their own way.
Siddharth plays Arjun the star cricketer in the Indian cricket team who isn’t in his form for some time now. He is set to play the final match against Pakistan on his home ground Chepauk and is wondering if he will make it to the final XI.
Kumudha is a big fan of Arjun and as it would have it, his schoolmate as well, who he incidentally forgets. He also only later acknowledges the fact that it is Kumudha’s father, who first trusted him and was his coach back in the day.
Arjun’s very young school going son, an aspiring cricketer hopes to see his father play aggressively. He also gets his share of taunts from his peers when his father fails in his game. After all we as cricketing nation adulate our heroes and in the same spirit turn vicious at the slightest show of weakness.
Arjun tries all vices to keep himself in the game – in his own words he only knows cricket and he feels he has still cricket left in him and hence he cannot retire as his bosses want him to. His wife is played by Meera Jasmine – a quiet supporting role that she manages with grace.
On the other hand, Kumudha is dealing with having no children and needing money for her fertility treatment. Her love for children makes her an over invested teacher and at home she is dealing with a highly intelligent husband – Saravanan – an MIT graduate who renounces wealth in order to get his hydro fuel project approved. Sara played by Madhavan is still a failure in people’s eyes but believes in his dreams. So much so that he ends up taking a loan from Dharmesh Agarwal (Vinay Varma) – which puts him in a tricky situation. Vinay Varma the new villain on the block is again casting that bodes well for the movie.
Test movie directed by S Shashikanth gets the character sketch right – they have depth and a whole lot of scope to invest in their complexities making for an engaging drama not to forget the scenes involving the match in particular adding to the adrenaline rush. And with the likes of Nayanthara, Madhavan and Siddharth at the helm, things do get to a good point in the screenplay when all is right until the moment he lets it all lose, and there is chaos.
Somewhere down the lane – a kidnap drama, betting mafia etc enter the fray and in trying to create an exciting end the film loses out on the complexity that would have set it apart.
Yet in the end all is well – when the director does come back to what he set out to say – Life is a Game and You Got to Play it. There is no choice.
In short, Test despite its flaws warrants a watch, if only to delight in how a good cast boundlessly elevates a film. The music by Shakthisree Gopalan is pleasant and blends with the film. Technically, it is fine film and makes the cut for being on OTT’s top films list. The film is directly streaming on Netflix from April 4.
Test Review
Rating – 3/5
