‘Toxic’ review: Blood, lust and something like love in unwieldy, overly long crime saga

Toxic takes its “Adults only” certification very, very seriously. Geetu Mohandas’s latest movie, co-written with and led by Kannada star Yash, has genocide-level displays of violence interspersed with many examples of what is considered grown-up behaviour.

Yash, playing the gangster Raya, leaves no opportunity to grind, bash, slash and burn his way to power. This randy rando out-drinks the average alcoholic and puffs incessantly on cigarettes and cigars but still manages to keep his liver and lungs in good condition for whatever he sets his mind to.

Excess is the point in a 194-minute film that seeks to turn machismo on its head. On paper, Toxic threatens to re-examine the unreconstructed male character type personified by Yash in his KGF movies. Yash plays an anti-hero similar to Rocky from K.G.F but also different: Raya, unlikely Rocky, will be shown a mirror to the consequences of his actions, especially on the women he beds and sometimes weds.

Hyperbole will be used to cut hyperbole. Toxic will pile up the corpses, unleash the slo-mo swagger and roll out punchy dialogue, but there will be a larger, noble purpose to all of it – that’s the promise, at least.

Events play out largely between the 1940s and 1960s in a place alleged to be Goa. Raya...

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