‘TEST’ (2025) Netflix Movie Review - An Enjoyable Sports Drama Thriller

S. Sashikanth's Test provides you with the pleasure of watching two kinds of performance. On one side, there is Siddharth as Arjun - a cricketer who is deeply in love with his game, so much so that his heart breaks when his poor performance in the field is criticized by the media as well as the people close to him (his son and a team member for whom he made sacrifices, for instance). Arjun is clearly in a lot of pain, and all the taunts and criticisms force him to doubt his talents. Has he passed his prime? Should he break up with the love of his life, i.e., cricket? Siddharth displays his character's mental turmoil and fears with superb restraint. He neither screams nor engages in all those fussy things like clenching his fists or tightening his facial muscles to underline his performance. Arjun only lays stress on his expressions towards the end when he sees a video whose content I won't spoil here, but even then, what a lesser actor could have turned into an explosion, Siddharth renders it as a moment of implosion. His Arjun remains consistently "professional" from the beginning to the end. Notice how he delivers this line, "How can you people do this to me? On my ground? In my home?" when he thinks he has been betrayed. You can sense that Arjun probably wants to stomp his feet or flip a chair, but his self-control proves he has a lot of discipline, just like a professional sportsman.

On the other side of the spectrum, we have R. Madhavan as Sara/Saravanan. This scientist, who wants to make petrol out of water, is a mad genius, and his madness exists blatantly on the surface. When Sara gives a presentation about his project (or simply discusses it with a friend), his eyes gleam enthusiastically. When he is pulled back to the ground, where he's forced to confront a loan shark and a corrupt politician, his eyes reflect anger and frustration. In both instances, Sara looks crazy - almost demented. At one point, he even says you must be crazy to achieve greatness. He dreams about being famous and living in a multi-story, expensive apartment, and then immediately, his friend (Kaali Venkat) brings him back to reality by reminding him that he needs to pick up his wife, Kumudha (Nayanthara), from somewhere. In another scene, Sara begins reminiscing about his time in America, and as soon as the camera tilts its head upwards, we brace ourselves for a happy, uplifting flashback. The camera, however, immediately returns to the ground - we don't get that flashback. Sara is trapped in his present circumstances. The pressure keeps piling up, and the switch eventually flips to give rise to a monster. Madhavan impressively jumps from one state to another state. His unhinged demeanor is creepy yet oddly delicious.

Kumudha is also one of the reasons behind the flipping of that mental switch. Her sole aim in life is apparently to become a mother. Since Sara cannot fulfill this requirement, she opts for the IVF procedure. Kumudha is a big fan of Arjun. They used to be classmates. Kumudha's habit of constantly mentioning Arjun's success drives Sara to the edge. She, of course, teases her husband, and he takes the comments as a joke, but we also catch him feeling irritated. Sashikanth, with writer Suman Kumar, patiently establishes the characters' aspirations and complications before taking a sharp turn that converts a drama film into a tense thriller. In Sashikanth's world, the hero and the villain turn out to be different sides of the same coin (there is a terrific undercurrent of awkwardness and tension in the scene where Arjun and Sara meet each other, which, when you look back at it, foreshadows the future). Both remain patriotic in their own ways and make sacrifices for professional ambitions. One compares himself to a soldier, while the other wants to save India - save the world, in fact - from harmful emissions. But what about the India they are fighting for? How's the India they want to save? Arjun plays for a country whose citizens instantly mock him, and troll him after he hits a rough patch. The "legendary" title quickly becomes a superficial embellishment. Sara, meanwhile, develops cheap, eco-friendly fuel for vehicles in an India that's not very interested in scientific inventions. People prioritize cricket over the environment, which is suffocating from pollution. The real villain in Test is the excessively money-minded society - a society that doesn't care about your personal issues but your public performance and that pressures wives to have children (Kumudha has to bear the taunting remarks of a neighbor). Test, in the end, is a message movie where the message is effectively dispensed through the story, not through loud lectures. It's an enjoyable sports drama thriller.

Final Score- [7/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times