Movie Review: 'Toxic'

Movie Review: ‘Toxic'

Cast: Yash, Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Tara Sutaria, Huma Qureshi, Rukmini Vasanth, Sudev Nair and others

Music: Ravi Basrur, Vishal Mishra, Tanishk Bagchi

Cinematography: Rajiv Ravi

Producers: Venkat K. Narayana, Yash

Writer-Director: Geethu Mohandas

With the massive success of “KGF”, Yash has become a pan-India superstar. After KGF 2, he took time to come up with ‘Toxic’, which is riding a huge wave of expectations and has hit cinemas today. Let’s have a look at the film.

STORY:

Amidst Indian independence in 1947, mafia gangs in Goa under Portuguese rule struggle for supremacy, while orphaned siblings Ganga (Nayanthara) and Raya (Yash) face many hardships to reach a certain level. Raya takes control of the Goa mafia empire by eliminating everyone, falls in love with Rebecca (Tara Sutaria), the daughter of Goa’s biggest mafia boss, Salvador, and decides to marry her. But after some time, Raya falls in love with Nadia (Kiara), a circus dancer. This leads to a conflict between Raya, Rebecca and Salvador too. On the other hand, Raya's enemies keep attacking him by plotting lots of conspiracies. Does Raya get out of this cycle of problems? Does he maintain his supremacy in the city? This forms the rest of the story.

NARRATION-ANALYSIS:

In the whole of “Toxic”, the hero does three types of things. The first is to kill someone with a knife or a gun. Without using the same knife or gun again, he keeps killing, continuing the destruction throughout the film. The second is boozing. He consumes alcohol before the fight and after, before romance and after, and never drinks the same brand of liquor again. The third one is romancing with the women. From his introduction scene, where he kills opponents by making the car vibrate with his sex, to his proximity with Kiara Advani, Tara Sutaria, and Rukmini Vasanth, the hero’s role continues to do the same. With these three types of work, director Geethu Mohandas made sure that the three hours of runtime would pass. To make the title ’Toxic’ apt, it seems like she worked really hard.

It is not easy to get out of the hangover after doing a blockbuster like KGF and that. is clearly visible in Yash and his ’Toxic’. The story of a boy who loses his parents and becomes an orphan, and enters the mafia empire to finally lead it, is something we have seen in KGF. Even Toxic is also in a periodic setup like KGF. While they tried hard to imitate ‘KGF’ with stylish making, all that doesn’t make any sense because there is no point in the story, no clarity in the screenplay and scenes just flow without any context. That’s the major issue with ‘Toxic’. We can’t say that all films should showcase only goodness on the screen, like non-violence and no romance, but if a film has nothing except them, the effort bites the dust.

Although it is true that the narrative in ‘Toxic’ induces a headache, there are some highlights too. If we could separate the bad parts, the action episodes in certain sequences like the circus fight, and the hero’s elevations are just wow. The climax twist that reminds you of the Hollywood cult movie ‘Fight Club’ is a bit crazy too. Above all, Yash gave all of his best for the role, including a super stylish performance. But in a film that has no proper story or screenplay, surely these toppings didn’t land. The repetitive scenes brought monotony throughout the film as it revolves only around fights, romance and repetition. Though the conception of scenes is stylish, the content is too weak, leaving the audience with extreme displeasure. The first half seems mediocre, but the second half completely crosses the boundaries, making it tough to sit till the end. 'Toxic' is a bitter memory for the audience who expect huge from Yash after KGF.

PERFORMANCES:

Hero Yash took care of everything about his looks and everything else to play Raya. His body language, gestures and overall performance are all outstanding. He played two roles in this, and the variation he showed in both is commendable. However, no matter how hard Yash tries, all that effort seems to be in vain. While his effort to present himself stylishly is commendable, it also gives a doubt about his judgement when it comes to okaying a story like this.

Kiara Advani impressed not only with her glamour but also with her acting. But in some scenes, her flat acting chops just shock us. Nayanthara is impressive in the role of Ganga as Yash's sister. There is nothing to say about Tara Sutaria's performance, while she looked very glamorous. Huma Qureshi is okay. Fans who expected a lot from Rukmini Vasanth will definitely be disappointed. By the time she makes her entry into the film, the audience is already impatient, and her role as well as her acting doesn’t benefit the film. Sudev Nair and other artists did well within their limits.

TECHNICALITIES:

Every frame of ‘Toxic’ proves that it’s made with a lot of money. In the story that runs between 1950-80, a lot of attention was paid to the art direction, which involves lots of money. There was no compromise on production values. The songs provided by Vishal Mishra and Tanishk Bagchi just seem okay. While the Tabahi song is good, it reminds us of ‘Animal’ songs. Ravi Basrur’s background music gives a mixed feeling. Though the BGM can elevate even poor scenes, here, an exciting score also sounds tiresome. Rajiv Ravi’s cinematography is good. The visuals are stunning.

Despite finding a hero who has a top-notch image, a producer who can invest a lot of money and some top-class technicians, writer-director Geethu Mohandas didn’t use it well. With a meaningless narrative and torturous sequences, she literally showed the stars to the audience. Other than stylish making, she failed to impress in any aspect.

Lastly:‘Toxic’… Truly Toxic

Rating: 2/5