TOXIC leans on style and swagger but lacks story and depth

Toxic Review {2.0/5} & Review Rating

Director: Geetu Mohandas

Toxic Movie Review Synopsis:
TOXIC is the story of a man and the various women in his life. The year is 1947. India achieves independence, but Goa is still under Portuguese rule. Yet, it is Salvador (Darrell D’Silva) who’s calling the shots. Raya (Yash) and his sister Ganga (Nayanthara) join Salvador’s gang and soon rise through the ranks thanks to their wit and bravado. Raya bumps into Salvador’s rebellious daughter Rebecca (Tara Sutaria) and the two have a fling. Rebecca falls completely in love with Raya but Raya gets smitten by Nadia (Kiara Advani), the owner of a circus and also its star performer. Nadia’s entry brings a lot of excitement but also pain and anguish for Raya. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Toxic Movie Story Review:
Yash and Geetu Mohandas’s story must have sounded exciting on paper. However, Yash and Geetu Mohandas’s screenplay is bizarre and neither in the commercial nor in the artistic zone. Yash and Geetu Mohandas’s dialogues are sharp at several places. At the same time, a few one-liners are forced and over-the-top.

Geetu Mohandas’s direction is weak. To give credit where it’s due, she handles the scale of the film well. The film is mounted spectacularly, and she ensures that the final product feels worthy of the big screen. A few scenes stand out, including Raya’s entry, Raya’s track with Ganga, and Raya and Nadia’s dinner date and what follows thereafter. The interval block – comprising the marriage scene and the sequence at the fort – also makes for an interesting watch.

On the flipside, the portions depicting Raya and Ganga’s childhood are a bit confusing. Raya’s entry into Salvador’s gang is also never explained properly. The track of Mellisa (Rukmini Vasanth) is very weak and childish. Until a certain point, there’s not much movement in the story and one wonders where the narrative is heading. The entry of Ticket (Yash) initially brings some energy. However, the fight between the characters once again pulls down the film. But it’s the twist in the climax that seals the fate of the film. It might have seemed interesting had TOXIC been a film festival offering. But adding such a twist to a commercial film backfires, as it is likely to go bouncer for the masses. The other major issue is that the slow-motion scenes and Raya’s characterization give a strong KGF and even ANIMAL hangover.

Toxic Movie Review Performances:
Yash puts in a lot of effort and it shows. He looks dashing while doing action and serenading the ladies. At the same time, he also ends up hamming in some scenes. Kiara Advani is the best performer in the film; her track is quite interesting. Nayanthara comes next. She looks stunning and performance-wise, she’s terrific. Tara Sutaria is a surprise and leaves a huge mark. Huma Qureshi, as always, is dependable and the same goes for Akshay Oberoi. Rukmini Vasanth is okay and her track comes at a time when the audience has lost interest in the film. Darrell D’Silva, Sudev Nair (Karmadi) and others are fair.

Toxic movie music and other technical aspects:
Songs are okay. ‘Tabaahi’ is the best song of the lot and works due to its melody and picturization. ‘Madhosh’ and ‘Waqt’ are just okay. Ravi Basrur’s background score elevates the impact.

Rajeev Ravi’s cinematography gives the film a grand, cinematic look. J J Perry, Anbariv, Kecha Khamphakdee and Amrit Singh’s action is gory, as per the times. T P Abid’s production design is classy. Saniya Sardhariya’s costumes for Yash are stylish while Neha R Bajaj’s costumes for the others are glamorous. DNEG’s VFX is top-class. Ujwal Kulkarni’s editing is fine but could have been sharper especially in the Macau scenes.

Toxic Movie Review Conclusion:
On the whole, TOXIC relies far too heavily on style, swagger and the familiar KGF-esque aura of Yash, while falling short on a compelling story and emotional connect. The performances, scale, action and technical finesse provide occasional highs, but the uneven screenplay, sluggish portions and a climax twist that is unlikely to resonate with the mass audience prove to be major deterrents. At the box office, TOXIC is expected to take a very good opening, driven by Yash’s immense popularity, strong pre-release buzz and the film’s event-scale presentation. However, unless audience word of mouth is significantly stronger than the film merits, collections could witness a noticeable drop over the weekend itself or, at the latest, from Monday.