Test becomes first film shot at Chepauk Stadium

suresh kavirayani

A few days ago, the Tamil film Test was released directly on an OTT platform. Featuring Madhavan, Nayanthara, Siddharth and Meera Jasmine in the lead roles, this film marks the directorial debut of S. Shashikanth, who previously produced several films. He co-directed this project along with Chakravarthy Ramachandra under their YNot Studios banner. Test has become a major success on OTT and has also received critical acclaim.
The film is set against a cricket backdrop, with Siddharth playing a cricketer named Arjun. His character, having lost form, seeks redemption in a Test match against Pakistan at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. This is notably the first film to be shot in the iconic Chepauk (MA Chidambaram) Stadium.
“We hired Star Sports cameras, the ones used for broadcasting actual cricket matches. We did a lot of homework before shooting scenes at Chepauk,” said producer Chakravarthy Ramachandra.
He added that this preparation is the reason the scenes looked so realistic. “We also hired professional cricketers for those scenes and Siddharth underwent months of cricket training,” said the producer. If you observe closely, Siddharth’s body language and walk resemble those of a professional cricketer.
“Not only did we use professional cameras and cricketers, but we also hired extra artists to fill the stadium with cricket fans. We didn’t want to use graphics for the crowd, so nearly 3,000 junior artists sat in as fans during the shoot,” he explained.
Many scenes were filmed in the style of live cricket broadcasts, without using a single traditional film camera on the ground. “We used only those cameras typically employed for actual Test matches,” said the producer.
Huge crowds gathered outside the stadium during IPL matches, and the filmmakers made use of this real crowd presence in the film. The makers paid close attention to every detail, which is why the cricket scenes came out so realistically. Cricketer R. Ashwin also supported the filmmakers by helping with cricket-specific details and personally trained Siddharth on how to play.