Toxic – frequently subtitled as A Fairytale for Grown-Ups – centres around alcoholic Raya (Yash – real name Naveen Kumar Gowda, but once dubbed himself Rocking Star Yash), who thinks nothing more than shooting people in the head as a way to settle a simple argument.
Yes, this film has four writers – including himself – and that sets the tone for what’s to come.
By way of a plot, and starting in Goa, 1947, before moving on to Macau, and ending in Goa, 1967, Raya also has a son known as Ticket, so-called because he feels discarded by his father, left to fend for himself and grow up without both parents, because his Dad is an angry drunk, and his mother – rather pointlessly – blows herself up at the start in a spectacular circus stunt that results in the whole big top exploding…
Yes, why use 10 decibels when 1000 will do?
It’s yet another series of disconnected scenes. Men are always hairy and bare-chested, while women don’t show anything, other than giving the impression they’ve all had the full wax.
Toxic is a film where all the female characters tend to blend into one, plus it has characters who think they’re making a big impression of the world, when they’re up against another one who’s holding a gun, shouting at them repeatedly, “SHOOT!”, and then looking all surprised when their command is granted, and they fly back in slomo with bullet in their bonce.
Elsewhere, some people seem to have a minor form of friendship or bonding betweeen them, only for one to blow the other away with a firearm.
Amongst the native dialogue, an English line of dialogue is suddenly thrown in from the same characters. A lot of similar films do this, and I don’t know why. Do they do it for a bet?
Additionally, whereas subtitles can tend to dumb down the language, in case it gets shown on TV in a clip, here, as one woman shouts “Where the hell is my stash?”, “hell” is replaced by “fuck“.
But despite some tedious romance stuff, Toxic does have great violence wrapped in over three hours of nonsensical gibberish, plus lots of style over substance, such as when there’s an explosion, with Raya lighting a cigarette from a passing fallen ember, and a cool scene where Raya faces Nuns with guns and shurikens. You know he’s going to survive, so it’s just a matter of how each assailant meets her maker, and that’s done brilliantly.
However, even though it does have an intermission (James Cameron and Christopher Nolan PLEASE take note!), it’s still 192 minutes when it could be done in less than half the time.
Also, since Toxic was showing on both 2.39:1 and 1.85:1 screens at my cinema, and IMDB stated the aspect ratio is 1.90:1 (same as Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra), imagine my surprise when it was actually 2.39:1 when shown in cinemas. If I’d known that, I’d have gone for the 2.39:1 screen showing it, and afterwards, whn checking out the trailer again, I deduced that 1.90:1 would be the IMAX version, if that had been available to view… which it isn’t when The Odyssey is taking up all of the space.
NOTE: There are no mid- nor post-credit scenes.
Toxic is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 118 minutes
Release date: August 21st 2026
Studio: 20th Century Studios
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1; 1.90:1 (IMAX)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 2/10
Director: Geethu Mohandas
Producers: Venkat K Narayana, Yash
Writers: Geethu Mohandas, Raaghav Vinay Shivagange, Kannada Dialogues, Yash
Music: Faheem Abdullah, Tanishk Bagchi, Ravi Basrur, Vishal Mishra, Arslan Nizami
Cast
Raya: Yash
Ganga: Nayanthara
Nadia: Kiara Advani
Elizabeth: Huma Qureshi
Mellisa: Rukmini Vasanth
Rebecca: Tara Sutaria
Tony: Akshay Oberoi
Karmadi: Sudev Nair
Salvador: Darrell D’Silva
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.