Toxic (2026) Review!!

Synopsis – As Portuguese rule crumbles in Goa, Raya rises through betrayal and bloodshed to claim the city’s underworld, only to learn that power always demands a price.

My Take – Though Yash has been active in the Kannada film industry for nearly two decades, it was the pan‑India eruption of Prashanth Neel’s KGF saga, KGF: Chapter 1 (2018) and KGF: Chapter 2 (2022) that transformed him into a national phenomenon. Which is why his return to the big screen, four years later, in director Geetu Mohandas’s latest film, arrived as arguably the most hyped Indian release of the year and, by several accounts, one of the costliest productions the country has mounted.

From the very first promo, it was clear that co‑writers Yash and Geetu Mohandas were reaching for something audacious. The film wanted to be stylistically bold, emotionally layered, and far removed from the grammar of a conventional gangster drama. It was framed through a distinctly female gaze, designed to be dark, stylish, violent, and drenched in lavish production design.

But ambition alone cannot hold a film together. And that is what makes this one such a perplexing viewing experience. You can see the effort. You can see the budget. You can see the intention. Yet the thin, unfocused, and strangely hollow narrative just collapses under its own weight. For a project that consumed four years of Rocking Star’s time, it’s baffling that the film never corrects its meandering storytelling, weak character arcs, or the absence of emotional depth.

Sure, Yash delivers wholeheartedly as both actor and star, but the film itself seems torn between multiple ideas, never committing to a clear direction. The result is a long, chaotic, and exhausting watch that rarely delivers the high promised by a film of this scale. It wants to be a fairy tale for adults. Instead, it becomes a loud, occasionally beautiful gangster fable that keeps demanding your attention without giving you enough reason to stay invested for 194 minutes.

Set in pre‑Independence Goa, still under Portuguese rule in 1947, the story follows Raya (Yash), a feared gangster whose world is anchored by his elder sister Ganga (Nayanthara). She is not just family but his shield, strategist, and partner in crime. Together, they avenge the murder of their gangster father and enter the orbit of mob boss Salvador (Darrell D’Silva). Raya’s rise is swift—he climbs the ranks with ruthless precision, becoming one of the underworld’s most formidable figures and the man expected to marry Salvador’s daughter, Rebecca (Tara Sutaria). Much to the chagrin of Salvador’s mistress Elizabeth (Huma Qureshi) and her conspiring brother, Tony (Akshay Oberoi).

But Raya’s life veers off course when he falls for Nadia (Kiara Advani), a circus performer whose presence disrupts the carefully constructed world he inhabits. Their relationship triggers a chain of consequences that push Raya toward self‑destruction, fracturing loyalties and igniting old wounds. Years later, those choices return in the form of his estranged son, Ticket (Yash), who stands on the opposite side of the battlefield—turning a father’s past sins into a son’s present reckoning.

On paper, there’s enough material here for a gripping gangster saga. The world-building carries faint echoes of KGF, especially in the way it frames its larger‑than‑life protagonist and the brutality surrounding him. The director’s command is visible in select stretches—the atmospheric detailing, the visual architecture of the world, and a few charged moments between Raya, Ganga, and Nadia.

But unlike KGF, this world often feels incomplete, and at times, outright confusing. The film keeps stacking layers without allowing most of them the space to breathe. To its credit, the opening works. Raya is introduced as a man who has no patience for “chatting and dating,” preferring blunt desire over romance. His dynamic with Rebecca and Nadia, coupled with his fierce emotional bond with Ganga, generates early intrigue. But that intrigue evaporates quickly. The moment the story needs to move, the cracks begin to show.

The film’s biggest flaw is its inability to articulate what its core story actually is. The writing grows increasingly chaotic, and the initially engaging setup slides downhill without ever finding its footing again. By the end, one wonders whether the film even possesses a coherent plot.

It isn’t complicated because it’s deep; it’s complicated because the screenplay keeps hurling characters, timelines, relationships, and situations at the audience with little clarity or purpose. There are bold touches for a mainstream entertainer—suggestive intimate moments, a few sharp lines where the hero uses strong language, and romantic threads that initially hold interest.

But the arrival of Mellisa (Rukmini Vasanth) in the second half felt more like an afterthought. As after a couple of scenes, her character fades into the background. And just when the Raya–Ticket conflict should take center stage, the film delays it endlessly. Scenes stretch, conversations drag, and several sequences feel like they could have been trimmed without losing anything of value. Beneath the gorgeous visuals, the guns, the bloodshed, the machismo, and the spectacle lies a potentially compelling story about abandonment, inherited trauma, masculine violence, and the fraught relationship between fathers and sons. The film clearly knows what it wants to say. It just doesn’t know how to make us feel it.

And then comes the big twist—one that makes little logical sense. When the entire narrative is being relayed through the voice of a particular character, the twist doesn’t deepen the story; it only raises questions the film never bothers to answer.

Performances wise, Yash delivers wholeheartedly. He oozes swagger in the first half, and the second half gives him the space to play both father and son with distinct emotional textures. His work in the twist sequence is particularly impressive. It’s evident he has poured himself into the film—physically, emotionally, and creatively—and that commitment shows in every frame he occupies.

Opposite him, Nayanthara is solid, while Kiara Advani brings beauty and a competent presence to her role. Tara Sutaria, Huma Qureshi, and Rukmini Vasanth are serviceable, though the writing doesn’t give them much room to stand out. Among the supporting players, Akshay Oberoi, Sudev Nair, and Darrell D’Silva make the necessary impact, each leaving a brief but memorable mark. On the whole, ‘Toxic‘ is a messy action drama weighed down by unappealing narration, weak characterization, and a story that never finds real depth.