CHENNAI: The wait along with the hype built around Toxic through its star-studded promotional events ultimately culminates in a colossal disappointment. At over three hours, the film, touted as a 'fairy tale for grown-ups', leaves the audience struggling to connect with its world, with very few moments that genuinely engage or intrigue.
The narrative is set in Goa in 1947, shortly after Independence, when the region was still under Portuguese rule. Nayanthara enters as Ganga with a bike stunt, followed by Yash, who plays her brother, Raya. The siblings find themselves embroiled in a gang war with Salvador (Darrell D’Silva) and his siblings Tony (Akshay Oberoi) and Elizabeth (Huma Qureshi).
Tara Sutaria plays Rebecca, the daughter of kingpin Salvador, who is expected to marry Raya. In the meantime, Raya meets Nadia (Kiara Advani), with whom he has a son. Rukmini Vasanth’s Melissa enters later. Raya repays her father’s debts, after which Melissa falls for him and eventually marries him. The couple have a son, whom Raya later tries to save from Ticket (Yash). Ticket is his estranged son with Nadia, who is out for revenge against his father.
At its core, Toxic revolves around Ganga’s vision of wanting Raya to rule the city. However, the screenplay struggles to establish why the audience should care about the characters or their intentions or their journeys. Some characters disappear almost as quickly as they are introduced, while the repetitive medley of guns, axes, knives and explosives results in the fights becoming increasingly confusin
Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups Director: Geetu Mohandas Cast: Yash, Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Rukmini Vasanth, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria Rating: 1.5/5 stars
The film repeatedly moves from one elaborate action set-piece to another without allowing its characters or conflicts enough room to develop. For instance, the film’s first major action sequence takes place in a graveyard. Even before the fight begins, there is a scene of Yash making out with a woman inside a car, which was featured in the film's promotional material, and is used merely as a setup for a bomb to detonate. The bomb eventually detonates during the climax, but the film offers little explanation for the scene.
Toxic has several intimate and sexualised scenes involving Raya and different women, apparently intended to establish him as a womaniser. Yet most of these sequences have little relevance to the narrative. The film repeatedly reduces its female characters to objects of desire, offering them no meaningful narrative space. While such objectification is often criticised in films helmed by male directors, Toxic does this extensively despite being directed by Geetu Mohandas. The film is also co-written by Geetu and Yash.
The portions involving Raya and Nadia provide one of the few stretches that has some depth, while the sibling relationship between Raya and Ganga also manages to create some emotional connection. Funnily, Ticket's introduction goes on to offer some unintended humour: his actions and dialogue delivery often evoke laughter during serious scenes.
Raya’s actions are eventually presented as consequences of his own mistakes, but by the time this emotional dimension comes into focus, Toxic's runtime has already tested the audience’s patience.
Toxic certainly has no shortage of spectacle. It is replete with bungalows, casinos, pirates, snow-covered mountains, aeroplanes, missiles and what not. But beneath all the grandeur, the film lacks an engaging story. For all its scale and ambition, the film offers very little substance.