What Is the Story About?
The concept of Good vs Evil is thousands of years old in multiple cultures. Earlier there was a clear divide between them but later, we started looking at things differently. We no longer looked at good or bad but at “good in bad” and “bad in good.”
But even that concept is now clichéd. TEST explores the same cliche with three characters. Siddharth plays a cricketer who is struggling with bad performance. R Madhavan plays an MIT graduate who is a crazy genius who can’t decide between his family and ambitions. Within them, Nayanthara’s character suffers with pregnancy and her decisions.
Overall, this is a very cliche trope where ambition is bad and sacrifice is good. The film essentially goes nowhere with this and especially the first half is a torture.
Performances?
The three lead actors are highly celebrated actors from the Tamil film industry. They are also very experienced. Naturally, you start expecting certain things from them. The first one being doing justice to the script.
Siddharth looks a misfit for his role. Not only is he old for the role of a cricketer, he looks old even for the old cricketer he is playing on the screen. He is highly talented but a total misfit for the character.
Madhavan rarely fails to leave us jaw dropped and this is no exception. He indeed emerges as a charmer in the film.
Nayanthara plays the wife of Madhavan’s character and she is her usual self. She is truly a marvel and has portrayed her character with a lot of authenticity.
Analysis
The director is a debutant and that’s why we can be a little easy on him. But it is still a true fact that he was an utter failure in weaving the story. The first half is just too bad. There can be no justification as to how the makers oversaw the utter massacre of entertainment in the first half.
You may think that TEST is a sports drama. No, it is not. This film has only that much relevance to cricket as Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara has to adventure sports. Cricket serves only and only as a launch pad for the story that crash lands.
Arjun (Siddharth) is already struggling to score; meanwhile, his son goes missing. Things are turning haywire while the link is found with Kumudha (Nayanthara) who is an old friend of Arjun.
And somehow everything is connected to Sarvanan (Madhavan) who is not just a crazy genius but also doesn’t know how to differentiate between any morality at all.
The director made full use of Madhavan’s character from Shaitaan and it does add some sort of entertainment value. But overall the script is too bland.
The movie feels more like a lecture than a film and the blame goes to the writing and direction. The film had too bad writing to ignore and we are surprised how Netflix India went ahead with it.
Music and Other Departments?
The music director is also a debutant in the field of direction. She has given an average album but it is perhaps not her fault. Because the film never gives us the moments to truly get into the zone. The costume design of Nayanthara must work in serials because the Sarees look too amazing to be in a film like TEST.
The movie is not exciting on any factor other than the performance of the cast.
Highlights?
Cast
Drawbacks?
Screenplay
Direction
No drama
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
Never
Test Netflix Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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