Movie Review : Toxic
Raya ( Yash) and Ganga ( Nayanthara) are siblings who suffered immense poverty and trauma as kids, with Ganga sacrificing a lot to raise her younger brother. Her dream of Raya ruling his world, wielding immense power comes true, when Raya becomes a powerful gangster in Goa, still under Portuguese control in 1947.
Raya soon spreads his wings up to Macau with the opium trade but along the way gains innumerable enemies.
His rise to the top however, also comes with a heavy emotional cost, with his inability to handle human relationships with depth and caring. He is set to marry Rebecca ( Tara Sutaria) the daughter of a powerful don, but things begin to fall apart when a circus owner and performer Nadia ( Kiara Advani) enters his life. She manages to get past his hard- hearted exterior to reach his vulnerable self. Though he tries to pull away, circumstances only bring them closer. Until the unthinkable happens again in his life.
But as Ganga points out, every choice comes with a price to pay. What happens to Raya and his world in the aftermath of his chosen paths? What price does he have to pay living with the gulit and trauma of his past and present? How does betrayal affect his life?
The film seeks to explore several themes ranging from toxic relationships that destroy people caught up in them, the toxic effect of violence and trauma in a person's life, sibling sentiments, guilt- ridden father-son relationships and more.
Technically the film seems terrific, with rich visuals captured by Rajiv Ravi, superb period elements in production design, carefully chosen costumes and accessories by Neha R. Bajaj and Saniya Sardhariya (Yash) that add to the authenticity, richness and atmosphere of the period setting and lives of the characters. The electrifying stunt choreography by Indian and International action directors JJ Perry, twins Anbariv, Kecha Khamphakdee and Amrit Singh are another highlight.
At 194 minutes, the extensive film weaves a web of intrigue, romance, ambition, greed, betrayal, trauma, gulit and vengeance in the life of Raya.
Yash plays Raya, with his trademark charisma and raw magnetism, that keeps you hooked in every frame he steps into. His physique and body language makes every action sequence believable and every romantic scene raw and passionate on screen. His transformation into the older version is fantastic as is the remarkably electrifying younger version of himself as Ticket. The action blocks between those versions is among the highlights of the film. The film rests squarely on Yash's shoulders and he carries it through with his swag, conviction and monster energy.
Nayanthara as Ganga, brings a gravitas to her performance, all the while exuding a strong energy, wisdom and fearlessness with her performance. Her finely honed act as the fiercely protective sister is topnotch.
Kiara Advani as Nadia has a meaty, layered role to which she does full justice while Rukmani Vasanth as Mellisa brings a restrained intensity to her performance. Huma Qureshi as Elisabeth comes into her own in key scenes while Tara Sutaria is well cast in her role as the seductive Rebecca who catures Raya's attention but also finds him slipping away.
A plethora of solid supporting actors is a plus, though many have not much dialogue.
While the first half introduces the characters and timelines, the second half picks up pace and goes into deeper introspection, and a fantastical, rivetting climax sequence of a father-son face- off.
The film however falters due to its excessive length ( 194 min) along with a fragmented and disjointed screenplay which leaves the viewer guessing many a time and requires patience to decode, an effort which is hampered by having to sift through excessive gory and violent sequences and non- linear narration at times. Crisper editing and more attention to dialogues seemed needed.
The tocix effects of a violent, traumatic, guilt -ridden, and deeply painful life of its ambitious, larger-than-life protagonist seems the crux of the film which a crisper screenplay and lesser action sequences could have perhaps helped in driving home more successfully.
Overall Toxic A Fairy Tale for Adults with its technical prowess, solid cast and rich visuals, is a Yash show all the way, held together with his monster energy, electrifying presence and intense performance.
Rating 3/5
TOXIC CAST AND CREW AND STILLS
CAST :
Rocking Star Yash - Raya and Ticket
Nayanthara - Ganga
Kiara Advani- Nadia
Tara Sutaria- Rebecca
Huma Qureshi- Elizabeth
Rukmini Vasanth- Mellisa
CREW :
Written by: Yash & Geetu Mohandas
Directed by: Geetu Mohandas
Produced by: KVN Productions and Monster Mind Creations
Director of Photography: Rajeev Ravi
Music: Ravi Basrur, Vishal Mishra, Tanishk Bagchi
Production Designer: TP Abid
Editor: Ujwal Kulkarni
Sound Designer: Kunal Sharma
Associate Producers: Sandeep Sadashiva, Prashant Dileep Hardikar
Action Directors: JJ Perry, Anbariv, Kecha Khamphakdee, Amrit Singh
Art Director (Bengaluru): Mohan B. Kere
Art Director: Sandeep G. Sharma
Executive Producer: MK Subramanya
Tamil Dialogues: Ganesh Subramanian
Directors of Choreography: Ganesh Acharya, Imran Sardhariya, A. Harsha
First Assistant Director: Rao Suhaib Khan
Script Supervisor: Doyel Hargunaney
Line Producer: Akshay Mavle
Costume Designers: Neha R. Bajaj, Saniya Sardhariya (Yash)
Hair Designer: Darshan Yewalekar
Make-up & Prosthetics: Shipra Singh Acharya
Post Production: The Post Co.
Re-recording Mixer: Sreejesh Nair
Music Producer: Ravi Basrur, Chethan Handattu, Pavan Basrur, Jagadish Venky
RBM Composing Team: Santhosh Venky, Airaa Udupi, Rohit Siddappa
Trumpet Live: Manju Bajanthri Devara Hosapete & Team
RBM Studio Coordinators:
Shivakumar, Nagaprakash Kota, Prakash Kumar, Krishna Basrur, Vijay Basrur
DI Colorist: Jayadev Tiruveaipati
DI: Redefine
VFX: DNEG
Publicity Design: Kabilan Chelliah
Visual Promotion: Ruben Trailer House
Trailer Edited By Swaraj Patrimath
PRO : Yuvraaj
