Exam Review: I watched Exam with my curiosity and had imagined it to be a grounded investigative thriller, around one of the most sensitive issues being faced by the students in India these days. The show did at least draw me in for a while in the first few episodes. In this Tamil thriller, the narrative of identity fraud, police investigation, education corruption and emotional trauma has been squeezed into a seven-episode story to be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
The show, helmed by Sarkunam, seems to have something serious to say about big-time examination scams and the destructive effects it can have on common family. It’s a good idea, a good concept and some of the acts really do take the show to new heights. However, the quality of the series is undermined by its tendency to fall into the norm of a mediocre thriller film when it’s necessary to suspend the laws of logic in order to sustain drama.
The plot starts with DSP Maramalli played by Aditi Balan coming up to a hill station for official duties, but soon getting kidnapped and locked away. A while later, another woman appears in the same area as if she were the DSP. The mystery of that woman becomes the main thrust of the series as she gets played by Dushara Vijayan. Why would someone put themselves at risk in order to pretend to be a senior police officer? What is her point? The early episodes are sufficiently interesting to binge on forever and ever.
The most promising quality of the presentation is undoubtedly the idea that it is based on. The series is inspired by the sort of huge fraud on education that happens in the country now and again, especially with competitive entry exams. The writing is sensitive to the emotional nature of this subject. These exams are the deciding factors for thousands of students and when corruption creeps in, it erodes trust as well.
I liked that the show didn’t make it a simple “good guys vs bad guys” format. Rather, it presents the scam as a broader social offense, with dire consequences.
Meanwhile, the story telling is frequently smaller than the subject it is treating. Even though there are seven episodes (more or less thirty to thirty five minutes per episode), the series plays out more or less like a minimalist chamber thriller. It’s been a long time since I saw a film that required so few actors to carry the whole thing, and with the four or five characters there are very few.
I like that restraint, in one way, because there’s no frills or clutter in the show. But, the small scale has its drawbacks as well since the world is not that full of life. A national examination fraud should have sounded bigger, scarier and more inflammatory.
The cast is as such, Dushara Vijayan seems to be the backbone of the series. She has the most layered character and does a great job with it. She is particularly well-controlled and seriously measured in her acting, without resorting to melodrama in the flashback section. Her acting skills are still believable even when her script is shaky.
Even though Aditi Balan is in a lot of confinements and restrictions during the series, he still makes an impact in a very limited space. Abbas is a somewhat more complex character than the (mostly) idealistic authority figures from the older vigilante films, with a moral component.
In the meantime, Saravana Sakthi leaves one of the strongest impressions. His jeep driver character’s earthy sincerity is memorable in several scenes. I was drawn to one of the scenes, in which he’s driving and the two female characters are sitting in the back seats and he just gives them a salute. It’s a well thought out moment, it’s an expression of respect, of emotional connection, of silent backing, without any over-explanation.
The series takes a raw and grounded visual approach. Cinematographer Arun succeeds in the rough realism of the hill setting, fitting the material. I enjoyed the acting in the action scene in a car between the two women, which was really intense. The tight shots and tracking are more urgent without being overly showy.
But Sam C. S. provides a background score that’s far from fresh. The music is acceptable, but nothing in it rings true as fresh or special to this series. Some sections are more like the standard “thriller” format than specific to an emotion.
As far as I’m concerned, the biggest problem with the series is its screenplay design. Until the second few episodes, the main plotline, whether it is Dushara Vijayan being caught while posing as DSP, is the same throughout the movie. The show sets up many scenes to bring her character to the surface, but never lets her out again.
At first, that method will function since suspense creates curiosity. But, after some time, the narration starts to become bogged down in a cycle. If you’re not used to seeing the trailer, you might have a hard time figuring out what the show is going to be about. So the bigger scam angle comes in a little late and not big enough.
The antagonist side also is underwritten. This is a tale that requires a very frightening antagonist, who can be strong enough for the protagonist to take risks. Opposition however, is frequently very weak and very undeveloped. For this reason, the ensuing clashes fail to have the impact they should have.
That procedural credibility failed for me was worse. The central idea, itself, is hard to believe. I can imagine that a new junior officer could be fooled in an extraordinary circumstance. But a DSP? In a working police chain of command, any fellow officer, subordinate or superior would know who their officer is. But the series assumes that anyone claiming authority without proper verification will be accepted as their trust by everyone.
This is the one thing which makes many later scenes look shaky because the base of the plot just doesn’t seem real.
When some characters find out that Dushara Vijayan is a fake, their response is quite strange. They treat her as if they had not heard her and her story. They don’t take her seriously, but are treating her the same way they did before. She instructs and commands and is obeyed without question until the truth is revealed. I would have like to have thought there was a bit of professional suspicion, but no one said anything. There’s a lot of convenience in the writing but it is not always realistic.
Other scenes are also over-dramatic for no reason. Almost an invincible commercial film hero, Dushara Vijayan is left with a serious stabbing and goes on talking. Also, at one point mathematical problem solving comes in, fortuitously — it’s funny when it gets its time of greatest intensity.
Even with these problems, I cannot entirely fault Exam as the issue is a real one. The series begins with promise, build up curiosity well and benefits from strong acting from the cast. It could have been an intriguing investigative thriller if the writing had been more tightly structured and the antagonist had been fleshed out.
Instead, it is still a good one shot watch, and a constant reminder of the great show that it could have been.
There isn’t much in the way of mature content in the show, making it appropriate for family viewing as well.
Rating: 2.75/5
