Toxic movie review: Yash's film is a soulless nightmare, a sensory overload that tests your patience

Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-UpsCast: Yash, Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria and Rukmini VasanthDirector: Geetu MohandasRating: ★There’s something about Geetu Mohandas and Yash’s Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups that has rubbed people the wrong way since the first promo was released. Initially, it felt like the uproar was over the depiction of sex or the grand dose of misogyny that came with a side of gratuitous violence.

In hindsight, it feels like maybe our gut instinct was telling us everything about the film was surface-level. At least, mine was.The story of ToxicRaya (Yash) and his sister Ganga (Nayanthara) want to control all illegal businesses in Goa, which is still under Portuguese rule, even as the rest of the country has achieved independence.

For related coverage, explore our detailed analysis on Technology and Digital Systems.

Bethrothed Married Kingpin Salvador’S Updates

Bethrothed to be married to kingpin Salvador’s (Darrell D'Silva) daughter Rebecca (Tara Sutaria), Raya is on the verge of making all his sister’s dreams come true. Then Nadia (Kiara Advani) arrives, and the usually dispassionate gangster begins to feel something resembling love. But even before Raya and Nadia can get lost in their bubble, fate has something else in store.

And Raya might have to answer for all his deeds. Toxic movie reviewToxic is filled to the brim with characters over its 3-hour-14-minute runtime, who come and go at brief intervals.

Despite whatever Yash (who received a co-credit for the story, screenplay, and dialogues) and Geetu intend, the ‘big reveal’ comes a little too late and does far too little for it to work.

Most of the film is spent sacrificing any coherence at the altar of what’s supposed to be a powerful, sexy, and seemingly unbeatable character. Ever so often, guns, axes, knives and bombs are whipped out so Yash can hack into other men. After a point, one bloodbath rolls into another, and it’s hard to remember why exactly he’s fighting.

Oddities Stand Outthe Story Updates

The oddities that stand outThe story of Toxic is so banal that you begin to notice every little flaw is magnified. That lipstick smudge on Huma Qureshi’s character Elizabeth’s teeth in one scene, or how artificial the sky looks, are the kind of things you pick up.

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You wonder why the CBFC, which uses the blur filter quite judiciously for minutiae in other films, lets chopped body parts and a rolled blunt be exposed in Toxic.

The lead character boasts about violence being his ‘mother tongue’ and calls a woman he openly requested for sex a b***h, but women fawn over him. You judge every character in this film and their decisions harshly.So unlikeable that it’s hard to emphatiseThere are exactly two characters in Toxic that make you feel anything for them remotely.

Because underneath all the booze, drugs, violence, and general nonsense, Yash and Geetu want you to believe there’s a heart that beats. Ganga and Nadia make you empathise with them, but such moments are far too few in between. The main characters of this film, Raya and his estranged son Ticket (also Yash), have traumatic pasts that define them.

But unfortunately, they are so unlikeable that it's hard to feel anything for them. Ticket even generates laughs and is unintentionally funny in scenes that are supposed to tug at your heart.In conclusionYash and Geetu will want you to believe that Toxic is the antithesis of glorifying violent and problematic characters.

They want you to believe that this film is about a man who becomes his own undoing.

An anti-hero, or an outright villain, who faces the consequences of his actions. But this moment comes after over 3 heroes of ba Except for one, all the female leads exist to serve his heroism. One or two self-aware moments that show otherwise don’t negate the overall arch.

This ‘fairy-tale' is actually a nightmare.