“Do I Look Civilized To You? “
Kya matlab 9 din baad review de rahe ho??
Arre bhai wo mansik santulan hil gaya the Toxic dekh ke toh time lag gaya 😜
Toxic Review Overview
So much is being said about this film, but mostly it’s all rubbish. Either it’s basic commentary on Yash’s acting, and bold concept, or it’s mindless trolling. I’ll be speaking about both the good and bad parts, no blind bashing.
Disclaimer: This Toxic Review will be full of spoilers. I know most people have either watched it or have no intention of watching it, but if you are one of them who plans to watch, read this after watching Kyuki, “This was supposed to be my f*cking Fairytale.”
Yash’s Acting
I’ll start with the best part. Yash as an actor has nailed it in Toxic. Raya and Ticket carry different shades throughout the film. Yash is awesome as a gangster. He is unapologetic and carries that Toxic attitude like he owns it. Such violence on screen is the easiest part. Most actors do it, and almost all of them do justice. But what I liked the most was the emotional angle carried out by both Raya and Ticket. That is not easy.
I understand what the makers tried to do here. I respect Yash as an actor for nailing the scenes to perfection. The problem is that the direction, the storytelling was so flawed that I was not invested in the film, the characters, the emotions at all.
Pathetic Stuff
Bhai ek film mein kitna slow motion hoga bey? Samajh aa raha tha paisa kaha laga hai. Sets and all are still fine. But har shot cinematic banane jaoge toh socho effort kaha ja raha hai – Cool lagne mein. Kahani kehne mein nahi.
Har shot extra cinematic hai, har dusra shot slow motion hai, almost har dialogue aisa lag rha hai jaise punchline hai. Koi normal baat nahi karta kya? 2-4 mafia walo ko chhod ke koi normal baat hi nahi karta. Samajh gaya sab larger than life hain, ab mujhe kahani mein invest karo na yaar. Mandbuddhi fans ke liye banai fanservive thodi dekhne aya hu.
Editing
Editing is so choppy and weird that scenes don’t register with you; one thing abruptly ends and another starts. Again, sara effort cool banne, larger than life dikhane mein chala gaya.
Remember wo graveyard wala scene jo promos ke time bhi aya tha. Jaha car mein sex karta hai Yash, fir blast hota hai. So that scene was so much trimmed and badly edited; you could feel it while watching. It’s understandable that the CBFC would have cut some intimate shots, but that’s not what I’m saying. The whole scene was trimmed abruptly. Why do you think this happened? Aage batata hu.
Action
Toxic has several action sequences, and all of them are different; some are good, some are not, so can’t really comment on the overall action.
The graveyard one was quite bad. But the circus one was really good. Very well staged, very well shot, and the way Yash was killing the enemies, it not only felt stylish, but it was clean, slick, and felt like Raya was really a professional killer. Unlike the opening graveyard scene, where everything was just to entice the brainless fans.
Another sequence I liked was the Ladies and Ladies one, which was also in one of the promos. Now this was something where you can appreciate the creative liberty to take things one notch up, where it’s not too over the top; it’s still within the boundaries of the normal world, yet a bit unrealistic, but so enjoyable that you accept it.
The Ticket introduction scene was less about action and more about the character, Ticket. Yash nailed it there. Some people may say it was too much, but if you see the character till the end, you would realize he was insane, and an insane person behaving that way is understandable.
The final fight sequence in the snow was just fan service before the film ends. Waise hi main invested nahi tha film mein, fir wo itna lamba scene, na chahte hue bhi flaws dikhne lagte hain. Jaise yaar, kaise koi ek aadmi itne dushmano ko maar dega, bina koi goli khaye. I always feel that it’s high time we stop designing action scenes like these. A grounded approach is always better. It becomes cinematic automatically. Slow motion and baki cliched cheezein dalne ki zarurat nahi hoti humesha.
Writing
What was the story of Toxic about? Was it about a gangster who was violent, inhuman, and mysoginist? Who did respect anyone but his sister, and did not care about anything other than himself? Like how Ranbir was a flawed character in Animal.
I’m completely okay with the protagonist not being a good guy. I’m watching a movie and the story happens to be about a negative person. But here in Toxic the goal shifts completely. He is not on a hunt to be the biggest gangster anymore. In the second have you lose track of what you started with. Which was never the case in both KGF movies.
Was the story about a gangster who was ruthless and mysoginist but then he fell in love and that changed him? It felt that way but then why was he still fucking around? Why did he have a wife and kid? It was just happening and the audience was forced to accept without understanding the goal or mindset of the protagonist.
Was the story about gangster who fell mentally ill due to various emotional damages he endured? His sister died, his love died, his kid died. Sure, that would have some traumatic effects on a person even if he was a ruthless gangster, because ultimately he was a human. But then what was the point of all the sexual encounters? Was it just to entice the audience to showcase, Look How Bold We Can Go?
My take on the writing of Toxic is that there is no central theme but all of them stuffed into one. We are not watching a story with a central idea. We are watching Khichdi with everything in uneven proportions.
Illogical Stuff
I’ve said this a lot; it’s fine if you let go of logic in comedies and some light-themed movies where not everything is to be taken seriously. But if you are building a world that you yourself are taking seriously, then please don’t do random stuff.
Raya and his sister have come from the streets and are planning big things to rule Goa or the mafia world in general. Such meticulous planning they would have had. Yet, at the wedding, Ganga tells Raya to kill the boss in his own house and start killing everyone? What was their plan? Keep shooting, and no bullets will hit them because the plot says so?
Well, they did exactly that. But then why did Raya stop when he saw Tara Sutaria? Bhai uske baap ko maar diya, sabko maar diya, marne se pehle bhi socha hi hoga ki usko bhi marna hoga. Toh gun leke ayi toh ruk kyu gaya? Kya socha tha? Nahi maregi? For the kind of ruthless character Raya was, this did not make sense. For Kiara, sure, the story was leaning that way, but why Tara? Aur ek goli kha ke bhi hosh nahi aya, 4 khata gaya.
So here it felt that ye sequence bas isi liye tha kyuki Huma Qureshi, Nayanthara ko kidnap kar le, aur Raya ko goli mari jisse wo apni sister ko bacha na paye. I understand what they tried to do but how they did it, did not make sense.
Ek second half mein ashtray wala scene tha (also shown in promos). Uss scene ka sense kya tha? Samajh toh aa raha tha ki Raya alcoholic ho gaya hai, pagal ho raha hai. Gusse wala, toxic, badtameez, unpredictable toh pehle bhi tha. Aise kayi faltu scenes rakh kar length badhai, jisse jhelna aur mushkil ho gaya tha.
Again, in the second half, who was that Chinese mafia? Kaha toh Rukmini Vasanth ki story chal rahi thi, bachcha ho gaya, mafia wala pura angle drop kar diya, fir random rival mafia aa gaya, Ticket introduce ho gaya, aur mental fuck up move kar gayi story. His kid died, so he came to kill Raya and take revenge, but again this forced plot was only done so that Raya could kill some enemies before he dies in the end. Waha bhi koi enemy goli nahi maar paya. Bhai ne plane uda diya, sabko maar diya, aur mara bhi tab jab surrender kar diya, aur natural cheez, avalanche se mara.
Aisa laga ki last sequence soch liya tha pehle, fir beech ka part likha Chinese mafia wala to link the kid, Ticket, the snowy location, etc.
It seemed very clear that the goal was not to tell a story, but to force a story within cool shots and sequences.
Big Question
People pointed this out a lot. Why did Nayanthara, Rukmini Vasantha and Huma Qureshi agree to do Toxic? People say they are generally associated with respectable projects and characters. So why did they choose a film that only focuses on intimacy and violence? Why is Akshay Oberoi so happy about his role when we barely see him doing anything great in the film?
(Please note: Not saying Tara Sutaria and Kiara Advani are not respectable, but they have done bold roles before. Only mentioning what I saw people posting on social media)
Well, if you know how the filmmaking process works, then you’ll understand this very clearly. Actors read the script or hear a narration, and then say yes or no to a film. So they would have liked something about their roles, for which they signed, but it did not translate into the final film. Ye bhi bahaut hota hai. Kuch banane nikalte hain lekin beech ka process mein cheezein badal jati hain. Aage iss baat ko aur better samajhte hain.
Direction
Director Geethu Mohandas said, ‘I always tell my producers, what you are reading here is not what you are gonna get in the end. I write something else, I shoot something else, I edit something else.’
Now this has two parts, and you need to understand both.
What she meant is something that is very normal in the filmmaking process. A writer writes the script as per his imagination. Then the director comes and adds his own imagination, and the film becomes something more; visual cues of set designs, costumes, locations, music, and many things start taking shape.
Even if the writer themselves is the director, things change when you shoot. Something called ‘Blocking’ happens in every scene. Kaun kaha se ayega, kaha khada hoga, kaha baithega, kaha se kaunsi line bolega fir kaha chala jayega, uss hisab se cues set kiye jate hain aur camera person apne shots aur lighting prepare karta hai.
Obviously, storyboard banaya jata hai, shots planned hote hain pehle se, but set pe ake, indoor ho ya outdoor, dekhna padta hai ki jo socha tha wo exactly execute hoga ya nahi. Kabhi distance, kabhi kuch aur beech mein aa jata hai to modify karna hota hai. Kabhi actors improvise karte hain, khade hoke bolna tha lekin flow mein baith gaye ya kuch aur kar diya. Ya kabhi director ko laga ki scene dull pad raha hai toh on the spot changes kiye. This is all very normal.
Scene ka essence change nahi hota, at the core the scene holds the same meaning in the story, but slightly change hota hai. Aur saare scenes ka volume lo toh slight slight changes in each scene add up to a big difference in the end from what was written.
Then comes the editing. For each scene, multiple shots are taken. If Yash and Nayanthara are talking, then one shot will be where the camera is on Yash, one shot where the camera is on Nayanthara, one master shot (wide shot) showing both of them, and sometimes a tight close-up of eyes, , mouth, hand etc. Aur agar multiple characters hain same scene mein to aur zyada shots.
The editor has multiple shots of the same scene. Most of them would be full shots and some of them would be close ups and reaction shots. Now the editor has to go through all the 20 or more shots (including multiple takes) and put them one by one to build a scene.
Example: Agar Yash bol raha hai toh ek uska full shot hai lekin ho sakta hai ki Yash ke bolne pe Nayanthara ka shot dikhaya jaye to show her reaction. Ya maybe na dikhaya jaye. Ya maybe master shot lagaya jaye. Now that’s a call the editor has to make. He has to test and see how he can make the best scene possible out of all the footage.
So that is why it is said that ‘A film is made 3 times. Once on the writing table. Once while shooting, and once on the editing table.’ This is what Geethu Mohandas meant. But it backfired, I’ll tell you why.
Now that you know the process, let me tell you how fuck ups happen.
When a director is not a good director, they don’t know what to shoot or how to shoot. They work on whims. They can’t control the set, meaning not particular about which department has to do what, won’t tell them, and then suddenly get angry about something done by them. You must have heard some senior actors talk about when they realise mid-film that the director is a bad director, but it was too late by then.
Another kind of bad director is one who knows how to shoot, but not how to tell a story. Technically sab badhiya shoot kiya lekin kabhi realize nahi kiya ki scene ya character motivation ka kya impact pad rha hai story pe, kuch galat ja raha hai toh theek karne ki akal nahi hai. Bas shoot karna jante hain.
Third are the yes-men, who do everything the senior actors and producers ask. Farhad Samji and Ahmed Khan are some examples. Producer kuch bhi gimmick dalne bolta hai; they do it wholeheartedly. Koi bhi senior actor kuch bhi change karne lagta hai set pe, sab accept kar lete hain.
I don’t know which category of Director Geetu Mohandas is, but something of this sort definitely happened in Toxic, from writing to filming and till editing.
Clues:
1. My example of the graveyard scene, from promo to film, is one.
2. 3 reputable actresses signing such a bold project for poorly written roles is questionable.
3. Another one I will tell you in the next section.
The Reddit Gossip
Now, these gossips are not always true, but if you watch the film and if you read my review, you will connect the dots.
Some people associated with Toxic, said that the team had shot extensively and had around 6+ hours of footage. There was a discussion of making it into 2 parts, just like Dhurandhar, but then they decided to go the other way, compress everything into one movie.
Now connect it with the graveyard scene I told you about. Did the scene feel trimmed and not make sense? Many people are complaining about choppy editing. Well, that was because they tried to trim the movie as much as possible, even half a second here and there, sacrificing the essence of scenes and ultimately the whole movie.
Another is that every big character had proper backstory, longer and well-defined character arcs so that every action made sense. A lot of it was cut down. Now link it with what I said about why the actors would have signed the film. They were exciting roles. They shot everything. Then later it was all cut.
Something similar had happened with Doctor Strange 2 and Thor 4. The former went through script changes and reshoots; the latter was heavily trimmed. So what we saw in the end was underwhelming. Many crew members revealed stuff about the original plans for both movies. Sharing concept art and whatnot. But here in India we might never get to know even that much.
Who made these calls? Yash? KVN Production? Are these gossip even true? Who knows. But looking at the film, it feels highly likely that they are not entirely wrong.
Chhapri Audience
I had observed and said it in my Alpha review as well that the people are turning toxic and enjoying negativity. Nobody talks about anything creative, any cinematic aspect, or the filmmaking process. Everywhere you can see either blind love or blind bashing. Agar koi tareef bhi karta hai, toh next line mein compare karke kisi aur ko neecha dikha dega. Uske bina toh baat hi nahi hoti.
This time I saw so many people enjoying when the negative reviews of Toxic started coming in. Aise khush ho rahe the jaise koi bahaut bada success mil gaya ho life mein. Na khud film dekhi, na kisi detailed creative process ki baat ki. Bas bashing ko enjoy kiya aur apni taraf se 2-4 gaali aur jod di.
And the worst part was, the most pathetic and vile things said around the intimate scenes in Toxic. Kiara aur Sid ko leke kitni gandi baatein kahi logon ne. Bhar bhar ke memes bane, posts bane aur sabne enjoy kiye. Yash ke baki intimate scenes aur heroines ko leke bhi yahi hua.
Ek toh logon ko filmmaking ki akal nahi hai. For a country which makes the highest number of films every year, the cinema illiteracy of the audience is appalling. Intimate scenes jo dikhaye jate hain, unko shoot karna bahaut alag aur technical hota hai. There are intimacy coaches now on set. It’s very technical and difficult with a lot of crew members around. Sex nahi ho raha hota set pe.
Humari country mein Sex aur Dharm dono ko leke bahaut ajeeb hai. Ek taraf sex ki baat bhi nahi karenge aur dusri taraf world ki highest population hai. Ek taraf itne dharmic aur sanskari banenge aur dusri taraf mauka milti hi jahilpane aur ashleelta ki hadd paar kar denge.
For a country that is so obsessed with religion, nobody complains about the absolutely vulgar accounts on social media that post all the shit things (now more with AI) and talk absolute garbage about everyone. No feminists, no religious groups complain about these accounts and posts, and they thrive freely. Kabhi kabhi toh inke followers dekh ke dimag ghum jayega.
Movie mein intimacy aate hi janta pagal ho jati hai. Andar ka chhapri jahil janwar bahar aa jata hai. Sabko dusro ko gyan dena hai morality ka, lekin khud ko nahi dekhna. Social media is becoming completely shit. Mera sach mein rehne ka mann nahi karta ab. Ek toh strikes ki wajah se, dusra lack of creative discussion, teesra ye gandagi.
Verdict
Ab itna late ho gaya hai, kya hi karoge verdict ka. Twitter pe short review diya tha dekhne ke baad. Pehli bar maine kaha tha Toxic mat dekhna.
Warna main ye kabhi nahi bolta. Bas itna bolta hu, ki kisko dekhni chahiye, kisko nahi dekhni chahiye, kyuki koi na koi fan hota hai; kisi-kisi ko acchi lag jati hain films. Sab mere jaisa nahi sochte na. But this time I said, ‘Skip it.’ Ek toh itni lambi bhi thi, mushkil ho gaya tha baithna. Aur dil bhi toot gaya tha, kuch alag aur mazedar expect kar raha tha.
Rating: ⭐⭐
Let me know in the comments what you feel about Toxic movie, if you have seen it.
Author: Ishan Jain
Cast – Yash, Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Tara Sutaria, Rukmini Vasanth, Huma Qureshi, Akshay Oberoi, Sanjeeda Shaikh, and others.
Director – Geetu Mohandas
Release – 26 August 2026
Produced by – Venkat K. Narayana & Yash
Studio – KVN Productions, Monster Mind Creations
Also check out: Awarapan 2 Movie Review | Haiwaan Trailer Review
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