Toxic teaser review: Yash's alpha male shtick is lather, rinse, repeat; Geetu Mohandas film works solely on shock value

Toxic teaser was released on Friday, and it gave audiences everything that they knew it would - Yash, all guns blazing, all machetes swinging.

When the makers of Yash’s upcoming film, Toxic, announced its teaser drop for today, I was a bit confused. The ‘Toxic teaser controversy’ has been the talk of the town since last month. It was only then that I realised the aforementioned allegedly offensive video was merely a character reveal. I was hopeful that if just an intro can ruffle feathers this much, what must a teaser have the potential to do? After all, don’t we crave for films that ruffle feathers?

Yash, breaking away from the KGF image, in Toxic teaser.

Toxic teaser arrives

If anyone was expecting anything but mayhem and blood in this film, they were clearly not paying attention to the film’s title or its lead actor’s persona in the lead-up. The teaser only reaffirmed that Toxic is just the next in line of hyperviolent, massy action films that have become the toast of the town since Animal reawakened something primal in Indian filmmakers a couple of years ago. The teaser is a montage of Yash’s Raya chopping limbs, grating faces like carrots, and (did I see that right?) breaking a bed in a rather over-exuberant intimate session. 20 years ago, Neha Dhupia had proclaimed that ‘sex and SRK sell’. Indian cinema has added blood to that now. In fact, even SRK needed some amount of massy blood and gore to cross ₹1000 crore a few years ago. Can’t blame the others for staying true to that.

Toxic teaser review

Mass films work. I am not against the genre. I quite enjoyed the first Pushpa. I loved Dhurandhar and was even a fan of the theatrical experience that the KGF films and Coolie gave me. All of these films had one thing in common. They engaged with the audience. Teasers can be cryptic, as Dhurandhar’s was, or descriptive, as KGF 2’s chose to be. But Toxic lies somewhere in between. It offers little new in terms of the kind of action and ambience this genre has given us in the last 4-5 years. The action is gruesome and visceral, and it is only the shock value that forces you to take note of whatever is happening on screen.

Unlike many others, I do not have a huge problem with the depiction of sex in the teaser or the first look video. I know the gaze is very much a male one, despite the film being helmed by a female director. But it all boils down to who the film caters to. And Toxic knows its core audience, for whom these scenes are crafted.

The newness comes only towards the end, when Geetu introduces a clean-shaven Yash, a throwback to the pre-KGF era. The actor has a certain aura that translates well on screen, particularly when he is portraying the proverbial angry young man. But Rocky in KGF was methodical and patient. Raya seems bloodthirsty and chaotic. It will be interesting to see just how the actor adapts to a different niche.

Toxic release date

Directed by Geetu Mohandas, Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups also stars Rukmini Vasanth, Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Tara Sutaria, and Huma Qureshi in key roles. Incidentally, none of the actors is even glimpsed in the teaser, which focuses solely on the KGF star. The hope is that the makers are reserving their glimpses for the trailer, which should arrive early next month. Here’s hoping the trailer will also reveal why the film is dubbed a ‘fairytale’. All in good time, I hope!

Co-written by Yash and Geetu, Toxic is scheduled to hit theatres on March 19, clashing with Ranveer Singh’s much-anticipated Dhurandhar: The Revenge.