I began watching Test with the kind of curiosity that comes naturally when a film combines personal struggle, scientific ambition, political pressure, cricketing chaos, and the emotional vulnerability of a couple fighting for their family. Directed by S. Sashikanth, the film positions itself as a sports drama with thriller undertones, but the execution often left me weighing how much of its ambition actually translated into engaging cinema. As I moved through the narrative, I realised that the core of the film is built on two parallel tracks – both intense in concept, yet surprisingly underwhelming in treatment.
A Scientist in Crisis and a Family on the Edge
The heart of the story revolves around Madhavan as Saravanan and Nayanthara as Kumudha Saravana, a married couple who have spent many years longing for a child. Their love marriage carries emotional weight in the film, especially when surrogacy becomes their only realistic option. The requirement of ₹5 lakhs for the process immediately places them under financial strain, and this emotional setup could have built the foundation for a deeply human drama.
Madhavan’s character is written as a brilliant but troubled scientist who invents a new alternative fuel every month. He has already discovered one such breakthrough when the film begins, but the journey from innovation to implementation isn’t easy. His previous invention pushed him into borrowing ₹50 lakhs, and the lender is constantly chasing him. The pressure only worsens when government approval becomes necessary and the minister demands ₹5 crores to move things forward. Watching Saravanan struggle under the weight of these obstacles, I expected nuanced emotional transitions, but the portrayal rarely connects on the level it should.
The film tells me Saravanan is depressed, yet I never feel his depression. In the actor’s previous films, his characters evolve slowly, with layered emotions drawing me in completely. Here, however, that sense of internal transformation is missing, leaving his mental state less convincing than intended.
A Cricketer Fighting for Survival
Running parallel to Saravanan’s turmoil is the story of Siddharth as Arjun Venkataraman, a once-celebrated cricket star now out of form and under immense pressure. The upcoming India–Pakistan match becomes make-or-break for him. If he fails, he will be removed from the team. This premise alone could have created gripping sports drama, but the narrative struggles to build momentum.
The twist lies in the fact that the same party that loaned Saravanan the ₹50 lakhs is also trying to pull Arjun into match-fixing. The idea of both men sharing a common enemy is compelling, and I was ready for a layered exploration of corruption, power, and manipulation in sports. But the film barely scratches the surface.
Match-fixing is a massive, complex, high-stakes world filled with shadow networks and secret operations. Instead of stepping into any of this, the film simply utters the term “match-fixing” and moves on. One of the villain’s dialogues – “I gave you 50 lakhs – will you kill your wife and child? See what I’ll do” – is delivered with dramatic weight, but the environment around him is so oddly presented that the tension dissolves. The same group claims they manage match-fixing worth 5000 crores, yet they appear to operate from what looks like a palm-leaf hut by the beach. The moment this setting appeared onscreen, I couldn’t help but wonder whether they were running a side business as well. This contrast makes the entire threat feel unintentionally comical.
A Sports Drama Without the Sport
Test aspires to be a sports thriller, but the cricketing sequences lack the excitement, strategy, or authenticity needed to draw me into the game. Sports dramas usually have an advantage – even if the emotional narrative falters, the sports portions often uplift the film. Movies like Dangal, Lubber Pandhu, or Irudhi Suttru have shown how sporting energy can elevate storytelling.
Unfortunately, Test fails on both fronts.
The cricket sequences are staged so poorly that they become difficult to enjoy. A film centered on an India–Pakistan match should naturally generate electrifying tension. Instead, the matches feel oddly empty and one-dimensional. Cricket is a team sport with 22 players on the field, but here everything revolves around only one person. I found myself watching scenes where only a single player seemed to exist – only he fights, only he hits sixes, only he gets out, only he catches, only he bowls. Thankfully, the film stops short of showing him bowl, bat, hit a six, and then drop his own catch in the same shot.
The emptiness of the sports world reminded me of those old black-and-white broadcasts from forty to forty-five years ago. Those matches felt slow and endless, sometimes stretching over five days of Test cricket where an opening batsman like Sunil Gavaskar would spend days on the field, goats grazing in the background as if the match was happening on farmland. The film unintentionally mirrors that sense of stagnation. The cricket sequences are not just slow – they are visually barren, lacking the adrenaline, the roar, and the collective energy that define the sport.
A Thriller That Needed More Thrill
The dramatic tension between the characters never builds to a meaningful crescendo. Plotlines exist, but they rarely evolve. The scientific struggle, the political negotiation, the emotional desperation, the match-fixing threat, and the sporting redemption arc all feel like separate pieces instead of a cohesive narrative. The villain’s constant threatening – including the jarring line “I gave you 50 lakhs – will you kill your wife and child? See what I’ll do” – should have intensified the stakes, yet it comes across exaggerated due to the weak world-building around him.
By the time the story attempts to converge, I found myself observing more than feeling. The tension doesn’t escalate; instead, it loops without adding depth.
Final Thoughts
Test is built on strong conceptual pillars: a desperate couple, a pressured scientist, a disgraced cricketer, corruption in sports, political greed, and a life-changing match. But the film rarely taps into the emotional or narrative richness these ideas deserve. Sports dramas thrive on passion, precision, and the thrill of competition. Thrillers rely on suspense, unpredictability, and tight writing. Test struggles to deliver either consistently.
If you have the patience of someone who used to sit through days-long Test matches on black-and-white televisions – the kind where goats roam across the field – you might find the endurance to sit through this film. But for me, the experience felt less like a gripping drama and more like a missed opportunity.
Rating: 1.5/5
