Test is a Tamil Movie which is directed by S. Sashikanth and written by S. Sashikanth and Suman Kumar. R. Madhavan, Nayanthara Siddharth and Meera Jasmine are the actors in lead roles in the movie with minor roles played by Kaali Venkat, Nassar and Vinay Varma. On 4 April 2025, the movie was released on Netflix directly without going to the theatres. It is currently filmed under the label YNOT Studios by Chakravarthy Ramachandra and S. Sashikanth and released by Netflix, obviously, as it is a direct OTT-release film.
The Test movie was shot using the camera by Viraj Singh Gohil, the music by Shakthisree Gopalan and the editing done by T. S. Suresh. It is average that it runs 2 hours and 25 minutes. You can also watch the film with home made popcorn. The budget of the movie is not stated in any credible sources and so we are not telling anything we do not think is true. It is a habit that we carry out fact-checks prior to publishing anything on this place.
Review
Test is the first Tamil film of Netflix and is an interesting character study where an India-Pakistan Test match is used as the setting. It is a curious mix of sports drama and feelings of a person, yet the final thing is a mishmash, based on the premise.
It is a tale of three flawed characters Saravanan (R. Madhavan) an ineffective scientist; his confused yet committed wife, Kumudha (Nayanthara); and a cricketer, Arjun (Siddharth) on the skids. They get into knots in their lives when they had not expected and they end up facing tough choices in life. Test is an attempt to make us literally think outside the box, the point that everything in the world is not black or white, but grey at best and Test manages to put this across in an emotional way.
You May Also Like to Read
Madhavan is fantastic and brings on board the desperation, moral dilemmas to Saravanan in a narrative manner pointed. Nayanthara performs well as Kumudha, yet her character could have been worked on a bit more. The switch to the emotionless Arjun in Siddharth, conversely, seems like a single melody repeated a hundred times and this takes away the emotional weight of his character.
The movie is technically well-known. Viraj Singh Gohil does the camera work quite well and TS Suresh does the editing avoiding the melodrama, the music by Shaktishree Gopalan is adequate to the situation. But Test movie has a formulaic writing style, cliched plot lines, and an extended third act that weakens the conflict it creates in the first half.
Sports angle which is significant to the action is not that active, as it does not give the perception of a sense of urgency to the action. The film climaxes exploring and delving in ethical dilemmas and moral issues, but fails to set up the simplistic story lines of a good thriller.
Lastly, Test is a heartfelt and determined film that explores the power of endurance, ambition, and very human errors, only it does not have the emotional impact that it is clearly attempting to achieve.
Cast
There are numerous flaws in Test, yet the performances are also worth the admission fee. R. Madhavan succeeds in his role of Saravanan “Sara” formerly an upbeat scientist whose desperation gradually shatters his scrupples. Madhavan depicts the struggle of Sara in a very skillful way making his journey tragic and familiar. Kumudha Saravanan was Nayanthara, a down to earth character. She has trucked well the role of a woman torn between loyalty to her husband and her own ambition of having her children, although sometimes her personality gets trapped by the screenplay.
Siddharth plays the role of Arjun, a cricketer who is beyond his prime. The role itself is potentially quite real but the performance of Siddharth turns out a flat affect emotionally as ill prepared to convey the storm of a man confronting a crowd and a personal collapse. Meera Jasmine debuting on the screen once again as Padma the wife of Arjun in down low playing of the character which hints at more feelings is underwritten.
The supporting cast gives one a sense of perspective, particularly Kaali Venkat who is the close-friend of Saravanan and who adds a sense of warmth to the otherwise depressing events. Nassar is a seasoned actor who adds seriousness without necessarily having so much screen time. Vinay Varma and Aadukalam Murugadoss do the same, but M. J. Shriram and Ajit Koshy, the coach of Arjun, contribute some realistic details to the cricketing atmosphere. Making use of a collective performance, the cast brings Test to its subversion of human vices and desires.
You May Also Like to Read
Critical Reviews
Janani K of India Today rated the film two stars out of five and said that Test had a good intention of telling an emotional story of dreams, dilemmas, and moral grey areas, only that the intention was in the right place. The film simply fails to take off the way it needs to though the acting is good and certain aspects of the film are well done. It becomes hard to actually get interested in the predictable script and the questionable characterizations and the potential of the story is wasted.
Goutham S of Pinkvilla rated the film at two and a half stars amongst five stars and added, “Test is a good yet admirable effort of trying to bring together drama and thriller in the sports arena. The film is filled with instances where it becomes interesting, yet it cannot maintain the pace in the long-term as it also narrates three different struggles.
Sonal Pandaya of Times Now rated the movie three out of five stars and wrote that the movie had an interesting premise and talked about the boundaries that an individual can reach at the cost of everything he or she wants. In retrospect, the three characters, Arjun, Sara, and Kumudha are imperfect and understandable, and that is where the depth is added. However, the film fails during its second half, as there is no tension as it has historically been. The backdrop of the cricket games appears like an afterthought and the characters are strangely out of touch with what is happening around them.
You May Also Like to Read
Lachmi Deb Roy of FirstPost gave the film three stars out of five and declared that the film is more than a cricket drama and is filmed in a hard-hitting fashion as it deals with grit, ambition and the difficult decisions that people have to take. Its multi-faceted personalities: of Saravanan, Kumudha and Arjun, depict grey areas of human kind. It is not quite working, but it is a thought provoking good film because of the emotionality of the acting, especially of Madhavan, and its take on so much of what truly counts in life.
Audiences Reviews
The Test movie received fairly negative reviews on the side of viewers. More than 1k individuals have rated the movie 5.1 stars on a rating of 10 stars on IMDb which are decent to bad reviews. Upon closer inspection of the user reviews of Test as per IMDb as well as, other websites, I noticed that the user ratings were highly polarized, though in which way; generally, the impression of disappointment appeared to be the most common. The slow pace, disorganized screenplay, and absence of emotional appeal were the subject of criticism of many viewers.
Although the star cast was excellent, many contended that the Test was long winded, absurd and wasteful of material. The initial hour is extended, they claimed, as does the so-called cricket angle that is discussed so much, until near the end of the film.
Its main reviews were of the foreseeable and haphazard plot, and there were various accounts of the match-fixing subplot as nonsensical and the character lines as implausible. Although R. Madhavan performance was highly appreciated some believed that he did not even have a script in his hand to restrain him. The role of Nayanthara was seen as a weak one whereas that of Siddharth was termed as mechanical and unenthusiastic. Other personages that were appreciated in their little screen time were Meera Jasmine and Kaali Venkat, yet there was a belief that the supporting characters were mostly pro forma.
You May Also like to Read
However, there was a segment of audiences who related to the emotional themes in the film. They adored the manner in which Test was exposed to the ambition of man, societal demands, and the issues of morality. Others were moved by its message of how the country had become obsessive with the sport of cricket at the expense of science, although the performance was a failure.
To the point, Test impressed people with its ideas and disappointed others with its narration.
Songs
The music of the Test film is performed by Shakthisree Gopalan and includes five songs that are agreeable to the emotional landscape of the movie and do not overwhelm it.
It starts off with the loud and catchy Arenas by Venky and sung by Yogi B that creates a very energetic tone, but it is rather low profile as it has obtained only approximately 14,000 views on YouTube since the release date. A more emotional one, written by Rajesh Shridhar and Venky, and sung by Shakthisree Gopalan, is the most viewed song of the movie, and it has become viewed more than 330, 000 times.
The third song is the lullaby written by Kutti Revathi and again performed by Shakthisree Gopalan; it has a calming-contemplative quality. Broken Glass, which was sung by Akshay Yesodharan, was more gritty, defiant and even. It finishes with the long song Fall of the Hero which is an instrumental music that subtly reflects the movie themes of falling and rising.
You May Also Like to Read
None of the songs are major hits, but they suitablely fit into the storytelling of the movie. The music is complementary to the character-driven drama since it is more of a background than hits.
How to Watch the Test Movie
In case you want to watch The Test movie, you can also stream it on Netflix in full HD since Netflix is the official distributor of the movie in digital version. Netflix is among the leading OTT sites in India and throughout the globe.
The movie will not be free to stream and will require the viewers to have an active subscription to Netflix. Upon subscribing, users are able to watch The Test, including all the unlimited access to Netflix huge collection of movies, television shows, documentaries and original content. Most of your devices can stream in HD on the platform. This will enable the viewers to ensure that they are streaming the movie through a legal source and at the same time enjoy a continuous and safe movie streaming experience.