In AltBalaji’s latest web-series, The Test Case, directed by Vinay Waikul and Nagesh Kukunoor, the protagonist is Shikha Sharma (Nimrat Kaur), the first woman commando enrolled in the Special Forces Training Centre. She has to fight two tough battles simultaneously. One for the country, to fight the enemy at the border. The other battle is the most important and the hardest one; against the patriarchal mindsets within the Army fold.
The trailer shows her being mocked as ‘Military Barbie’, and being pushed to the edges physically and mentally. From the first looks of it, this series might make up for the countless sexist television soaps Balaji Productions churned out all these years.
The only other woman in the trailer, apart from Kaur, is Juhi Chawla, who plays Shraddha Pandit, the minister of defence who calmly states that if a man is willing to undergo any torture for his nation, a woman can do that too. According to the minister, Shikha is the government’s ‘test case’; the sample that represents the many millions of women in the country, and the generations to come. The trailer hints that there might be more to the story than a lone woman’s struggles inside a misogynist space. Questions are raised on if Shikha is being played, or if it is she who is playing the men. The trailer ends with her voice-over, “There is just one hero in my story. That’s me.”
Kaur’s acting seems flawless, and she looks the part – athletic and natural. Other cast members include Akshay Oberoi, Atul Kulkarni, Rahul Dev and Sumit Suri. The series will be available on the streaming platform AltBalaji from January 26. The pilot episode is already on the website, released in May 2017.
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HERE IT IS !! The OFFICIAL TRAILER of The Test Case and what will unfold on the 26th of January worldwide exclusively on @altbalaji ! Eagerly awaiting your thoughts !! #TheTestCase https://t.co/5Be8ZWZNgW
— Nimrat Kaur (@NimratOfficial) January 17, 2018
