Lampooned by critics and viewers alike S. Shashikanth’s directorial debut TEST, a Tamil sports drama film, falls flat despite its star-studded cast.
TEST, released on Netflix on the 4th of April, 2025, is a production by Shashikanth’s own YNOT studios, a venture fuelled by Shashikanth’s passion for film production. Certainly not lacking ambition this movie stars a well-established cast with the likes of R. Madhavan, Nayanthara and Siddharth in the central roles. It also stars Meera Jasmine in a supporting role as she returns to Tamil cinema after a decade-long hiatus.
However, unlike its engaging premise, the result turns out to be a mediocre, run-of-the-mill drama film. Although the actors’ performances have been showered with praise, critics and viewers have unequivocally bashed the lacklustre writing and the scarcity of sustained interest throughout the movie.
This is a massive problem with the writing of films in the Indian entertainment space. Writers are underpaid, under-recognised and not given enough importance too. Although Tamil and Malayalam cinema is far better than Hindi and Telugu films in terms of writing, a film like TEST can’t be pardoned.
The blame goes to the sheer ignorance of Netflix of Tamil original films throughout the years. They never bothered to understand the nuances of Kollywood and that’s why this film comes as an utter fiasco.
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