What Made The Toxic Trailer Launch So Different

Rukmini Vasanth, Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Yash, Tara Sutaria, Producer Venkat Narayana, Akshay Oberoi, Huma Qureshi, Director Geetu Mohandas, Sudev Nair at the Toxic trailer launch event in Bengaluru

Yash unveiled the Toxic trailer in Bengaluru alongside his Director Geetu Mohandas and co-stars Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Rukmini Vasanth, Tara Sutaria and Huma Qureshi.

Geetu Mohandas called Yash 'an emotion' and said she would always cherish the creative partnership they had.

Nayanthara revealed that Yash simply called her and that was enough to convince her to attend the Toxic launch.

Usually, when a big trailer is launched, you watch it once or twice.

But the Toxic event was not going to play by the usual rules.

During its lavish Bengaluru trailer launch, the trailer was screened five times. First in Kannada. Then in Hindi. Then in Tamil. Then in Telugu. And finally in Malayalam. Each version had little bits of English woven into it since the film is set in Goa.

Toxic has been simultaneously shot in Kannada and English with dubbed versions for the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam audience. Somewhere between all of this was the feeling that the Yash starrer was deliberately refusing to be boxed into the convenient phrase of 'regional cinema'.

Instead of asking the audience to simply watch, the event made us experience the film through different linguistic personalities.

The same scene sounded different in every language.

The Hindi version had swagger. Some emotions felt more immediate in Tamil. Malayalam brought another texture. Certain lines landed harder in Kannada (those Kiara Advani scenes, especially). Telugu had its own rhythm.

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Yash at the Toxic trailer launch event in Bengaluru

The trailer launch in Bengaluru on Saturday was unusual because of how broadly the media presence was planned. Journalists and media people from different parts of India were brought into the same room. Scribes from Mumbai, Delhi, Kochi, Chennai, Hyderabad were flown to Yash's home city Bengaluru for the launch.

This made the atmosphere feel less like a conventional film event and more like a meeting point for several industries.

That was, perhaps, important for Toxic.

Yash himself made the point at the event, stressing that Toxic should not be looked at simply as a Kannada, Tamil or Telugu film, but as an "Indian film".

His statement made sense when I looked around the room.

Different languages, different accents, different audiences. The event was probably the most interesting visual representation of the pan-Indian idea I have seen at a film launch.

Yash on the Toxic poster

The excitement to see Yash's latest action avatar was already in the room before the trailer even began. Not the polished, controlled excitement you see at most press events. The fandom here was louder. More restless. You could sense that for a section of the audience, Yash is not simply an actor. He is an emotion tied to their own idea of a larger-than-life star.

Interestingly, that word came from the stage too.

Director Geetu Mohandas, visibly emotional, called Yash "an emotion" and said she would always cherish the creative partnership they had.

It made me look at the trailer differently.

My first reaction to the trailer was mixed. I definitely liked it. But I also came out of it with a giant question mark hanging over my head.

What exactly is this film?

I am excited.

I am intrigued.

I am also confused.

And I think all three feelings can exist together.

The trailer seems to be deliberately ambiguous. It throws period drama, gangster wars, family conflict, violence, romance, and something fantastical into the same pot. At times, it feels as if I am watching several films fighting for space inside one trailer.

I still don't know exactly what Toxic is, but perhaps that is precisely the point. I would rather walk out of a trailer with questions than with the feeling that I have already watched the entire film. I just know one thing that I absolutely want to find out.

This film is also much larger cinematic playground for Geetu Mohandas, who is known for small, emotional dramas like Liar's Dice, Moothon. She has never been a filmmaker who makes safe choices, and with Toxic, she seems to be trying something much bolder.

The massive Dolby Cinema screen hosted the Toxic launch event in Bengaluru

Toxic has always felt like an unusually ambitious project for Yash, which he has co-produced and co-written besides leading it.

Listening to the people around him speak about the making of the film, you get the sense that there was considerably more at stake for the actor.

Nayanthara puts it most beautifully.

She called Yash "the most hardworking actor" she had ever seen and spoke about the four-and-a-half years he has given to the project. She also mentions that she has never seen an actor take care of a director in quite the way he did.

Nayanthara's presence at Toxic launch almost became an event within the event.

The superstar has famously stayed away from most promotional events and has spoken openly in the past about why she prefers to keep that distance. I could almost hear the Tamil Nadu contingent gasp at her rare appearance.

At the event, Nayanthara admitted she is "not very good" at promotional events and often doesn't know what to say to the audience. Yet, she was there because this particular film, and this particular person, mattered enough. Nayanthara revealed that Yash simply called her and that was enough to convince her to attend.

She had plenty to say.

About Geetu, she recalled that the two had actually acted together around two decades ago. "Geetu and I have had a long and beautiful journey," she said, before describing the filmmaker she met again for Toxic as almost a completely different person.

Then she turned to Yash. This time, the praise became more emotional.

Speaking about the sacrifice and commitment she had witnessed, she said, "Every single day on set, I was amazed at the way he worked. He sacrificed his time with his family, his kids, as he was just bothered about work. I have so much love and respect for the actor, producer, and human being he is."

Nayanthara gave a special shoutout to Yash's wife Radhika. Calling her Yash's "biggest strength", she praised Radhika for sacrificing time with her husband to support his ambitious vision.

Toxic may be marketed around Yash, but the women in it have become one of the film's biggest talking points.

Kantara fame Rukmini Vasanth spoke about being pushed beyond her expectations in Toxic. She called herself "overwhelmed, humbled, and blessed" to be part of the film.

Tara Sutaria became visibly emotional after the trailer. She described Toxic as a dream and a wish that the entire team had collectively shared.

"I'm just so overwhelmed at the moment after watching the trailer," she said.

At the event, Kiara Advani had her own moment.

She described the experience as something that could create "a Kiara before and after this film'.

Yash, in turn, called her performance "tabahi" (a cheeky reference to their song in the film) and encouraged her not to worry about criticism and follow what she has always believed in.

Huma Qureshi had already warned audiences before the launch that they had not seen anything quite like this.

"I feel people have seen nothing like Toxic here ever before," she said, adding that all the women -- Rukmini Vasanth, Tara Sutaria, Nayanthara, Kiara Advani -- have performed strongly.

Toxic arrives in cinemas on August 27.