Test review: Tests your patience and endurance!

Test review: Tests your patience and endurance!

What: ‘Test’ - In a 150-minute film that feels like an endless, grueling and a never-ending match where cricket, careers and conscience collide, Siddharth renders a performance which feels lousier than Salman’s in ‘Sikandar’ and Madhavan is like a man possessed. Much like Nayanthara, the film is as flimsy and facile in dealing with the dilemmas of its characters.

Test movie review

‘Test’ helmed by S Sasikanth starring R Madhavan, Nayanthara and Siddharth in key roles feels like a two innings game akin to a test match, with the only difference that those two resemble two different films.

An iconic cricket series between India and Pakistan where rivalry transcends the sports is heading towards its finale at Chepauk stadium Chennai, an iconic player and homegrown talent of the Indian team is in denial of his declining form. An iconic MIT-grad-and-scientist turned canteen-runner is struggling with the government machinery for his project approval which can disrupt the entire automotive ecosystem with this hydro-fuel-cell technology, his wife – a school teacher, is desperately trying for motherhood through an IVF.

Sasikanth’s ambitious directorial debut assembles ample iconic characters where their worlds converge during the test series, leading to some desperate measures but meets a very insipid execution and inept narrative.

‘Test’ derails into a slog quite soon despite the world it builds for Saravanan aka Sara (Madhavan), Kumudha (Nayanthara) and Arjun (Siddharth). At the outset, their quagmire of problems and money woes feel genuine, but the lousy screenplay and the dialogues (the tacky Hindi ones) ruin the experience and the desire to absorb them. Sasikanth’s sensibilities don’t pierce into them – hence we get a Siddharth placed in a singularly-toned character, a permanently morose cricketer who passion for the game and family is only confined to his words and no acts.

Nayanthara cribs about infertility and even taunts her husband’s disinterest for parenthood – but her well-groomed looks, saree and make-up don’t insinuate a lady in distress. It is only in words. And those words do more harm than the rowdy collection agents in die-hard pursuit after Sara and his bestie, Bharani (Kaali Venkat in a more spontaneous performance, without a hint of affectation).

Sasikanth adorns Madhavan in a vicious and vengeful rage - what he does best of late. Madhavan is like a man possessed, out to destroy anything that comes on his way except for Biryani and his RD350. The actor sadly has a hangover of Shaitaan engulfing him and that’s we are eagerly waiting for the upcoming ‘Kesari Chapter 2’, in antagonistic tones. 

Marking a comeback to cinema after a hiatus of 10 years, Meera Jasmine as Arjun’s wife Padma is underwhelming and a cardboard cut character relegated to sulking and hitting Arjun not once, thrice. Violence is recurrent – not only spilled over the streets but also underlined in the domestic confines in Sasikanth’s terribly middling drama the gamut of ambitions and aspirations.

 

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