Toxic Review: Sleaze, Violence Can’t Save This Hollow Action Saga

Kannada Rocking Star Yash appears overly confident about his image in Toxic, which he has also produced and written. But a dark persona, stylish presentation and a handful of punchlines are simply not enough to sustain a three-hour film. What is missing is a sensible plot, strong narration and characters the audience can connect with.

Set in Goa in 1947, the film follows Raya (Yash), a gangster determined to establish his control over the underworld and the opium and casino businesses. His relationship with his sister, varied women in his life and his conflict with his son, Ticket, form the basic storyline.

The problem is that the fictional world created by director Geetu Mohandas never manages to draw the audience in. Instead of building a compelling narrative around its period setting and gangster backdrop, the film relies heavily on violence, gore, intimacy and glamour. The result is an over-the-top action adventure with very little substance.

Unlike KGF, where the core story had a strong emotional and relatable foundation that made Yash's larger-than-life heroics work, Toxic feels contrived from the outset. The film's premise of a power struggle surrounding Portugal-ruled Goa, opium and casinos is difficult to buy, and the narrative repeatedly sacrifices logic for style.

The makers' promotional material had already indicated the film's heavy glam quotient, and the final product confirms those concerns. However, in an era where audiences have access to far more bold and mature content on digital platforms, sleaze alone has limited novelty or impact.

Yash looks convincing in the dark and flamboyant avatar, but the character itself is not supported by a strong screenplay. Kiara Advani gets a comparatively better role among the female characters and looks gorgeous and sensuous. The Dabahi Dabahi song has the potential to become a chartbuster. Nayanthara has an important presence, while Rukmini Vasanth's character is poorly written and appears to have been included largely to add another layer of glamour. Tara Sutaria and Huma Qureshi have limited impact.

The Telugu dubbing is also below expectations, further weakening the film's reach in the Telugu-speaking states.

On the technical front, Toxic looks impressive. Rajeev Ravi's cinematography gives the film a lavish, atmospheric and visually striking appearance, while the production design and overall production values are notable. The film certainly looks expensive.

However, the music is a major disappointment. Ravi Basrur, Vishal Mishra and Tanishk Bagchi fail to deliver songs that make a lasting impact, while the background score works only in patches. At nearly three hours, the film desperately needed a tighter cut. The uneven pacing repeatedly tests the audience's patience.

Geetu Mohandas deserves credit for attempting an ambitious action gangster spectacle and staging several sequences on a large scale. Her promotional material was visually stunning and created considerable curiosity. Unfortunately, that visual promise does not translate into a solid narrative.Her promoting male chauvinism and macho deeds and showing women as sex objects who fall easy for the hero is hard to digest.

Toxic is a lavishly mounted but hollow action drama that mistakes style, violence and sensuality for substance. Yash's star power and the film's technical polish cannot compensate for its weak writing and illogical screenplay.