More than 90 per cent of the almost a billion cricket fans worldwide are from the Indian subcontinent, according to a 2018 survey by the ICC. Small wonder then, that the craze for cricket is reflected in Indian cinema, including the Academy Award-nominated sports drama Lagaan (2001).
Fast forward 24 years and Netflix has brought us Test. The Tamil-language film might not be as influential as Lagaan, but it has benefited from being released a month after India’s win against New Zealand in the ICC Champions Trophy finals. The film has topped the UAE's Netflix film chart since its debut on April 4. It also benefits from a strong cast, with R Madhavan, Siddharth and Nayanthara headlining a Crash-like set of interconnected stories, taking place on and off the field.
In Test, Indian international cricketer Arjun’s star is waning. Arjun (Siddharth) faces major media scrutiny and pressure from officials to retire, having been off form in his previous few matches. Meanwhile, Saravanan (Madhavan) is in hot water with loan sharks, while his wife Kumudha (Nayanthara) is struggling to become pregnant.
Neither the film's narrative nor its setting tackle new ground. Milan Luthria’s underrated 2007 comedy-drama Hattrick was more or less in the same wheelhouse. Test stands out, however, when the gears shift abruptly from drama to thriller in its second act, and the plot enters the shady world of sport and match fixing.
This isn’t a novel idea either: Kunal Deshmukh’s Jannat (2008) and Rohit Dhawan’s Dishoom (2016) covered similar ground with varied results. So what’s Test really left with? The answer is simple: promise. S Sashikanth, who makes his directorial debut with the film, shows incredible restraint and makes the cinematic world, and the people who live in it, feel grounded and real.
Despite that promise, there’s a lot going on during Test's 145 minutes but very little to connect to emotionally. Viewers feel like they're juggling three plots – one carrying themes of class disparity and corruption, the second holds themes of infertility and the stigma it attaches to women, and the third is the actual point of conflict, the crime of fixing a match. It's impossible to keep all three in the air, so inevitably they all come tumbling down.
Contextually, there is certainly enough material for art to imitate life. In India, the stigma surrounding infertility continues to plague women in the country’s sexist sociopolitical structure. Class disparity and the individual’s battle with systemic corruption continue to exist nationwide. Match fixing also has a historically potent set of case files for reference, Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja's to name just two.
What we get instead is a perfectly functional film with a narrative that could have benefited from a slower, more calculated approach, rather than trying to juggle multiple themes throughout. There are impressive turns from its main and supporting cast, with exceptional work especially from Nayanthara, Madhavan and Meera Jasmine. The overall story arc holds viewers’ curiosity. Unfortunately, all those pros don’t make up for the many moments when it feels like crucial storytelling elements are missing.
The 18th Indian Premier League (IPL) already has Indian cricket fans' undivided attention. Sports movie fans have a library of past hits to choose from. That leaves Test as a perfect matinee-style film for movie lovers having a lazy weekend. Expecting anything beyond that, however, would lead to disappointment.
