Toxic movie review: Yash's high-decibel action drama is a circus of absurdities

There are very few films that live up to their title, and Geetu Mohandas’ latest directorial venture, Toxic: A Fairy Tale For Grown Ups, is one of them. The film is more toxic than your red-flag ex and more a tale of horror than a fairy tale, even for grown-ups. Featuring Yash in an all-encompassing role, Toxic numbs you from the very beginning with its over-the-top drama, VFX, and too much screeching. Nothing in the film is subtle; everything and everyone is loud. And with a plot that is hard to fathom, Toxic feels a bit too much- much like its crowded star cast.

What’s the plot of Toxic

Set in Goa in 1947, Yash plays Raaya, a ruthless gangster who, along with his sister Ganga (Nayanthara) wants to rule over the entire state even as the Portuguese continue to rule in post-Independent India. Raaya either kills people ruthlessly or fornicates. These are the only two jobs that the man knows. At some point, he gets engaged to Rebecca (Tara Sutaria), the daughter of a Mafia don. The relationship is merely a means to climb up the power ladder for Raaya.

As a circus comes to town, he falls in love with one of its star performers, Nadia (Kiara Advani). But loving a man who was orphaned at a young age and who has parental issues is tough. Nadia and Raaya too have a complicated love story. They part ways over a misunderstanding, leaving Nadia with their love child, Ticket. As Ticket grows up, he is consumed by hatred for his father, who now lives in deep guilt and regret. Amid multiple gang wars spanning two decades, the story ultimately culminates in a standoff between the father and son. Both are consumed by hatred and anger and are desperate to kill each other.

Too many characters spoil the plot!

I must tell you that the film’s story, written by Mohandas and Yash, is very complicated and hard to keep up. It takes a special kind of patience to understand the film in its entirety and then retell it. They say too many cooks spoil the broth. In Toxic’s case, too many characters spoil the plot! The first half is chaotic and takes ages to establish the story. Too many names are thrown in, and the maker takes huge artistic liberties in creating a world that feels distinctly removed from the society that India was in 1947.

It also doesn’t help that none of them speaks normally in the film. In Geetu Mohandas’ make-believe world, they exchange manufactured dialogues. The atmospheric film is heavy on the eyes and ears, where action sequences are thrown in arbitrarily.

A scene where Yash and Kiara meet for a dinner date (as if it was a thing in 1947 India) at a local pub is soon hijacked by a bunch of Russian female assassins, all dressed as nuns. At some point, they walk in, strip to their bare minimum and start attacking Yash from all sides. He, of course, tackles all of them single-handedly while others in the room run for refuge. No one explains why the women are attacking him and why they are all dressed as nuns!

There are plenty of scenes like these. The second half of the story shifts to Goa 1967 but also has Yash dealing with Chinese gangsters. At some point, the story shifts to a snowy mountain area where gang war looks like a proper battlefield. Who is permitting them to launch bombs in such areas? Where is the army? Why is the younger Yash in a vest and cargo pants while the older one is in an overcoat? Why does a kid keep screaming ‘Daddy?’ Why was this film made? Questions that will remain with me forever, along with the trauma of watching it.

Kiara Advani stands out

If at all there is something to look forward to in Toxic, it is Kiara Advani’s performance. Among a plethora of actors that also includes the likes of Nayanthara and Huma Qureshi and Rukmini Vasanth, Kiara’s emotional arc as the sad, love-lorn Nadia stands out. Her scenes with Yash serve as the emotional anchor to a crazy plot where killing comes as an easy option for everyone.

I wish I had seen Nayanthara in a meatier role. Her background story is so strong, yet the actress is reduced to playing a sister, enabling her brother throughout.

Huma Qureshi, who is otherwise such a powerful performer, is reduced to playing a woman similar to Cruella de Vil.

Everyone speaks in a deep baritone, trying desperately to sound menacing. But turns out to be more comical than evil.

It's a Yash show

If one sets aside the absurdities, Toxic is ultimately a Yash show. The man serves as a writer and a producer of the film, and thus it is completely about him. The scenes that have the actor in a double role are well enacted; the actor, especially, is good as the menacing son Ticket, who only seeks revenge. However, the screenplay, which overtly stylises his character Raaya, becomes overbearing after a point in time.

By the time of the climax, Yash’s heavily accented dialogue delivery pierces through your ears and hits your brain, not in a very good way. You try to comprehend what he is saying amid all the screaming and shouting, much like you have spent most of the three hours and twenty minutes inside the hall.

Final Verdict

Toxic tries to be a redemption story, but it gets lost in its own huge scale. There is simply too much of everything—excessive violence, endless screaming, unnecessary sexualization of female characters, and the gimmick of having two Yashs. Instead of making the movie better, all this over-the-top drama just ruins the story.

Toxic: A Fairytale For Grownups is now running in theatres.