The trailer for Toxic has divided opinion since its release in Bengaluru on Saturday, with much of the online discussion centred on comparisons to Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal rather than on the film itself.
The four-minute, 38-second promo shows Yash in a dual role in a period gangster story directed by Geetu Mohandas. It reaches cinemas on 26 August.
What are the comparisons about?
The parallel rests on atmosphere rather than plot: a brooding, morally charged world built around a male lead operating without restraint, which viewers linked to Animal.
Animal was released in December 2023 and became both a substantial commercial success and one of the most fiercely argued Hindi films of that year, largely over its treatment of masculinity and violence. That argument has attached itself to subsequent male-led action dramas.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Trailer length | 4 minutes 38 seconds |
| Launched | 8 August 2026, Bengaluru |
| Release | 26 August 2026 |
| Director | Geetu Mohandas |
How has the Toxic trailer been received?
The trailer for Toxic, launched in Bengaluru on 8 August 2026, has produced a divided response. Much of the online reaction has focused on comparisons with Animal, the 2023 Hindi film directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, with viewers linking the two on grounds of tone and atmosphere rather than story. Reviewers have been mixed: the Free Press Journal described the promo as strictly average, noting that at close to five minutes it reveals little of the plot, while praising the scenes given to Kiara Advani. The comparison sits awkwardly with the film’s authorship, since Toxic is directed and co-written by Geetu Mohandas, a National Award-winning filmmaker, and gives substantial screen time to an ensemble of female actors. The film releases in cinemas worldwide on 26 August 2026.
What have reviewers said?
The Free Press Journal called the trailer strictly average, observing that it runs close to five minutes while revealing little of the story, and that Ravi Basrur’s music does not land as forcefully as his work on the KGF films.
The same review singled out Kiara Advani, who is given some of the strongest material in the cut. That has been a consistent thread: several responses have noted that the female cast, which also includes Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria and Rukmini Vasanth, are not confined to the margins.
Does the comparison hold?
It is complicated by who made the film. Toxic is directed and co-written by Geetu Mohandas, whose previous features Liar’s Dice and Moothon travelled the festival circuit and won a National Award.
After the teaser was released in January, the director Ram Gopal Varma wrote on social media that no male director was man enough in comparison, calling Mohandas a symbol of women’s empowerment. His remarks concerned the earlier teaser rather than this trailer.
Why the film draws this scrutiny
Yash has released only two films in the past nine years, both KGF instalments, and has not appeared on screen since Chapter 2 in 2022. A long absence concentrates attention on whatever comes next.
The teaser released in January drew similarly heated reactions, and the film has been postponed twice, from March and then June. Each delay extended the promotional cycle and the argument along with it.
His 2026 slate sets up a sharp contrast. Toxic places him in a violent gangster register; in November he appears as Ravana in Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana, a reverent adaptation of a sacred text. Both arrive within three months.
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Sources for this report
The Redline News Desk
The Redline News desk files and edits world reporting. Every story carries the sources it was built from, and corrections are published on the story itself.
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