Test

The film opens with the quote: “A hero will sacrifice the person they love to save the world, but a villain will sacrifice the world to save the person they love." This neatly encapsulates the film’s core idea. It examines two protagonists pushed to their limits, forcing them to choose between morality and self-interest—one emerging as a hero, the other a villain. At its core, Test has a compelling premise, but producer-turned-director Sashikanth struggles to transform it into an engaging film. The main issue lies in its characters, who feel artificial and distant, making it hard to empathise with them—despite strong performances from the cast.

It’s been over two decades since Aayutha Ezhuthu and we once again have Madhavan and Siddharth locked in an intense struggle right in the heart of Chennai. Not far from each other either. If it was Napier Bridge in the 2004 Mani Ratnam film, it is a stone’s throw away at Chepauk in S Sashikanth’s directorial debut Test (a Netflix release). If it was political and ideological in the earlier film, it is emotional and personal in this one. Siddharth is Arjun here as well — not a confused young man eyeing the American dream but a patriot wearing India’s Test cricket whites, a star batsman, the kind whose class is evident even if he is on his last legs. Twenty years on, a star cricketer from Tamil Nadu playing for India isn’t as implausible. But India playing Pakistan at home in test cricket? That stuff can happen only in fiction in 2025. And Madhavan here is Saravanan, a washed-up tragic scientist, an eternal striver as deep in insecurities as he is in debt.

Throw a crore of rupees at Arjun (Siddharth) or a cricket ball, his eye will watch only the ball. Cricket before all else, before family, wife, even school-going son Adi or his own mother’s funeral. And now, he’s batting to save his place in the national team, he’s been in bad form for a couple of matches. Time to retire? The question every star cricketer dreads to hear from the board. Adi’s 30+ schoolteacher Kumudha (Nayanthara) has been warned that she cannot step beyond her duties and get personal with her students. Her obsession – to have a child of her own. The doctor’s told her that this will probably be her last attempt at an IVF procedure. She needs Rs 5 lakh for it. Kumudha’s husband Saravanan alias Sara (R. Madhavan), an MIT trained scientist with a dream project to save fuel. On the sly, will funnel Rs 50 lakh into his dream project, a Rs 50 lakh loan ostensibly taken to upgrade a canteen his late father-in-law had set up for the jobless genius. With the canteen shut and loan sharks at his throat, there’s Kumudha nagging him for Rs 5 lakh.

Writer 1: The first of our two leading men is a cricket legend past his prime. He has been out of form lately, and his place in the playing XI, ahead of a crucial India-Pakistan Test series — let’s call it ‘Freedom Series’ (slow clap) — is in jeopardy. His name is Arjun, but everyone, including his son, calls him ‘Dada’ (wink, wink). We can cast Siddharth, but a statutory clause in his contract has to be that he has to wear a perpetually pained expression throughout. In terms of grumpiness, we can ask him to channel Rang De Basanti’s Karan Singhania, but in a far inferior film. Writer 2: The other man, Saravanan, is a MIT graduate. Not Manipal, but Massachusetts, as he reiterates in the film with indignation. At least twice or thrice, we will make him say that he wanted to become the next Steve Jobs. He calls himself a scientist, runs a canteen in Chennai and is working on a project that he hopes will make Tamil Nadu the leader in fuel cell technology in the country. In a totally unrelated characteristic, he is also obsessed with biryani. We will put that in a couple of times in the script (note: look for a sponsor). But a twist of fate changes him. Since R. Madhavan just played an unhinged character in Shaitaan, let’s cast him. But tell him that he’s ‘crazy’, not unhinged, otherwise he tends to go overboard. And yes, make him sound like he is from MIT. Let him quote Jack Kerouac: ‘The only people for me are the mad ones’. Let him break into devilish laughter without any reason. Towards the end, make sure he stops shaving. How will he look and sound crazy otherwise?

Netflix’s first Tamil original, Test, is a fine character study with star power. However, in the sports portions, S Sashikanth’s feature lacks the tension that would elevate the film further. R Madhavan, Nayanthara, and Siddharth play characters who are forced to expose their darkest sides when they are pushed to their limits. When the film remains focused on their internal conflicts, the ’test’ they are enduring, Test, is at its best. If you’re coming in looking for a sports drama, this thriller is more interested in the human aspect and the damage we can inflict upon one another. Test is the story of three headstrong individuals. Siddharth is Arjun, India’s most successful batsman on the verge of retirement. Saravanan (Madhavan) and Kumudha (Nayanthara) are a couple on the verge of having their dreams come true. After a decade of trying and failing, Kumudha is going for one last attempt at motherhood through IVF. A former MIT graduate and scientist, Sara is about to land a deal that will revive his career and help the country. Sara’s and Kumudha’s futures are tied into Arjun’s as an important test match begins in Chennai against Pakistan.