The Test Case (2018) – (Sadly) Predictable

Genre – Military drama

Time: 10 episodes x 25 minutes each

Platform: Jio Hotstar

Director:   Samar Khan

Cast:  Nimrat Kaur. Atul Kulkarni. Rahul Dev. Juhi Chawla.

Plot: Defence Minister Shraddha Pandit (Juhi Chawla) pressurises , Indian Army Special Forces to open its cadres for female trainees. The agreement is straight forward – if one woman completes the training, as a “test” case, then Special Forces will be thrown open to female candidates. Captain Shikha Sharma (Nimrat Kaur) is the only female trainee and as the only female candidate in the all-male cadre, must prove twice as much to everyone, mostly the tough trainer, the ”Ustad” Naib Subedar Kripal Bhatti (Rahul Dev) and the Commanding Officer Col. Ajinkya Sathe (Atul Kulkarni). As the training intensifies, so do the dropout rates among the male candidates but Shikha continues to persevere. She also has personal demons to overcome …

This could have been a very interesting serial but for the fact that the idea is hardly an original one. The basic idea of a female candidate in the super tough all male all macho Special Forces is a direct copy of the Ridley Scott film, GI Jane (1997). Let us check out how “original” this plot is.

• A female Senator Lillian DeHaven (Anne Bancroft) keeps pushing various defence committees for equal opportunities in the special forces. Defence Minister Shradda Pandit also keeps pushing for the same.
• Jordan O’Neill (Demi Moore) is a specialist in Naval Intelligence who joins the hyper tough SEAL Naval Commandos. Shikha Sharma is a captain in Military Intelligence who joins the Army Special Forces.
• Jordan must impress the Master Chief John Urgayle (Viggo Mortensen) who keeps taunting her femininity and “special” privileges. Subedar Kripal Bhatti also keeps doing the same.
• The intensely competitive men slowly and steadily push Jordan to the bottom ladder which results in her toughening herself up and racing ahead in the overall scores. Shikha does something similar
• The difference is that Jordan is deployed on combat while Shikha isn’t, though she completes the grueling training exercises.

Then there is the added masala of a sexual assault during an exercise by one of the men who detests Shikha and how “easy” it was for her, while most other men are okay with her as she too has cleared all the tough obstacle courses. Hang on – that is a copy paste from The General’s Daughter (1999) except that Shikha decides to tackle the perpetrator herself and not file any official complaint, despite support from her C.O and the female Army doctor who knows that Shikha’s injuries are not combat injuries.  Shikha also has “personal” demons to overcome – namely her brother’s suicide as her (retired Army) father constantly  taunted  him to be a soldier, while telling her repeatedly she was  an unsuitable candidate for the Army and should be married off at the earliest.

This could have been an original TV series but suffers due to the transplanting of an unoriginal story into an Indian milieu but is cliche ridden. Though Nimrat Kaur does a good job, including some rather “bold” scenes and dialogues, and “climbing the obstacles all by herself”, backed up by Atul Kulkarni and Rahul Dev (surprisingly good as the Ustad) , the overall result is slightly ‘meh’ and as the story line is hardly original.  There was lots of publicity then about how Nimrat was toughening up for the role with special exercises to strengthen her (some videos available on You Tube).  Sainik School, Sangli provides a decent substitute for the Special Forces barracks.  Nimrat Kaur bravely holds the series together but it somehow seems to miss the mark.  Since each episode is around 25-27 minutes , the series doesnt drag and moves really fast to its final conclusion

Story – 3 out of 5

Script – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Locations/substitutes – 4 out of 5

(War movie) Masala elements – 3 out of 5

Total – 3.6 out of 5