Cast: Yash, Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Tara Sutaria, Huma Qureshi, Rukmini Vasanth
Crew:
Writte by Yash, Geetu Mohandas
Music by Vishal Mishra, Ravi Basrur, Tanishk Bagchi, Faheem Abdullah, Arslan Nizami
Cinematography by Rajeev Ravi
Editing by Ujwal Kulkarni
Directed by Geetu Mohandas
Produced by Venkat K. Narayana, Yash
Yash has become highly revered Rocky Bhai of Indian Cinema with KGF franchise. Post a 4-year hiatus, he has hit screens with his Toxic. He played a dual role as an old man and a young boy, in this gangster epic. Movie is directed by Geethu Mohandas and produced by KVN productions and Yash. The movie released today and let's discuss about the movie in detail.
Plot:
Raya (Yash) and his elder sister Ganga (Nayanthara) have a troubling childhood with their mother (Sanjeeda Sheikh) killing their father and choosing prostitution as her job. They both desire to rule Protugese Goa in 1947 post Independence. They kill opium drug dealer don Fernandez and his brother Mob Boss Salvador (Darrell D'Silva) takes them under his wing. But his mistress Elizabeth (Huma Qureshi) and her brother Tony (Akshay Oberoi) don't appreciate the raise of Raya. Ganga forms Raya's alliance with Rebecca (Tara Sutaria) but Raya falls in love with circus performer Nadia (Kiara Advani).
Before the wedding, Nadia is sent away but she becomes pregnant with Raya's kid, as he is obsessed with her. Salvador decides to kill her but Raya instead kills everyone. Meanwhile, Tony tries to kill Raya and Salvador to take over the drug mafia but as his conspiracy spills out, Salvador and Ganga force Elizabeth to kill Tony. She promises revenge. What happens next? Why Nadia raises her son Ticket (Yash) away from Raya? Why Ticket hates Raya? Who are Melisa (Rukmini Vasanth) and Adam. Watch the movie to know more.
Analysis:
Yash is good in the climax portions and his screen presence stands out. But he doesn't get any support from writing as everything looks to be scaled up to fit his Rocky Bhai persona. A very grounded film and dark story is forced to become so huge and even star power of Yash suffers to carry it on his shoulders. Tara Sutaria fits as a Portugese Indian and Kiara Advani is good in several portions.
But Nayanthara's make-up is oddly designed along with Huma Qureshi and Rukmini Vasanth. Their roles seem to have been designed to showcase how desire for power and Toxic environment surrounding them force them to take bold decisions. But none of them really click. Odd make-up choices are evident in Rukmini and Nayanthara styling especially. Tara Sutaria and Kiara get better dresses and pull off their look but their performances seem to be pushed over the top just for sake of it.
Kiara has gone too bold in her portrayal and bold scenes seem unnecessary even to show passion. The overtly drinking scenes, drug usage and violence do not really fit the story that Geethu Mohandas intended to tell. It looks like a psychological thriller being told in the form of KGF while it totally doesn't deserve such scaling up even one bit.
Telugu dub dialogues needed to fit what local people speak but they seem to have been translated from Kannada language which works against the intent. Each line seems unintentionally funny and over dialogue baazi for the sake of it. The dialogues are a big minus. Editing pattern looks like a template KGF film which doesn't fit the screenplay one bit. If we need a moment to understand why the relationship is Tabaahi, we don't get it. If we need to understand how things are changing with power, we don't get it.
Everything seems to be in a rush to go for the final frame. Action sequences work but the gore elements seem unnecessary. VFX work and techncially sound design are good enough. Even production design, grand sets are visibly, painstakingly well built. Still, none of it elevate the written material. In fact, writing is so let down that even if technical elements work, writing doesn't. Cinematography is good with several frames really being outstandingly executed but overall feel for such a psychological thriller is completely missing.
KVN Productions and Yash spent a lot on this film but they should have thought twice before scaling it up. Ravi Basrur music also doesn't help the movie one bit. We can say that Toxic is a misfire with technical department working well enough but writing and execution not living up to it at all.
Positives:
Yash screen presence and performance
VFX Work
Cinematography
Production Values
Negatives:
Over the top narrative
Dialogues
Screenplay that tries to cramp a lot
Very lethargic Writing
Make-up and styling for few female leads
Editing Pattern heavily relying on KGF Template
Bottomline:
Toxic doesn't live up to the expectations as film could not effectively choose between being a grounded psychological thriller or a big mass actioner.
Rating: 2.5/5
Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this review are personal views/opinions shared by the writer and organisation does not hold a liability to them. Viewers' discretion is advised before reacting to them.
