Toxic teaser review: Yash's splendid dual act and the KGF-Marco hangover
India Today
Yash's Toxic teaser showcases his dual roles in a stylish gangster drama set in Goa. The film promises intense violence and a fresh female perspective, raising expectations ahead of its March release.
Yash's much-awaited film, Toxic: A Fairytale for Grownups, is set for a grand release on March 19. With less than a month to go, the makers unveiled the film's teaser to considerable anticipation. Directed by Geetu Mohandas, Toxic, at first glance, appears to be a layered, stylish gangster drama set in post-colonial Goa.
The film has been making headlines for weeks, largely owing to its box office clash with Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar: The Revenge. But with this latest glimpse, the conversation has shifted — fans are now genuinely curious about what Yash and Geetu Mohandas have been quietly building.
Yash built his career in Kannada cinema on the back of family-friendly commercial entertainers. It was KGF that first saw him inhabit an anti-hero, and the result was a phenomenon that transcended Karnataka to find audiences across the globe. With Toxic, he appears to be pushing the envelope even further.
If the introduction promo featuring his character Raya and the recently released teaser are anything to go by, audiences are in for a version of Yash they have rarely seen before. The nearly two-minute teaser wastes little time in establishing its tone — blood, gore, and visceral violence are front and centre. The film draws visual and thematic inspiration from several films, including Marco, Rambo and KGF, and wears those influences openly. Whether Geetu Mohandas can synthesise them into something distinctly her own is the question the teaser leaves hanging.
One of the teaser's most striking elements is the two distinct avatars Yash inhabits. Audiences are accustomed to the long-haired, brooding KGF look. What caught everyone off guard was a short-haired, beardless, visibly slimmer Yash — a transformation that has already divided and delighted fans in equal measure.
The story of Toxic spans three decades, and the film appears to use a substantial flashback structure to trace Raya's journey and what drove his transformation. It is an ambitious narrative device, and if executed well, it could give Yash's performance genuine emotional range beyond the spectacle.
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