A much-needed sneak peek into "Rocking Star" Yash's upcoming Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups finally arrived on the occasion of his birthday on 8 January. Earlier, the promos of its lead female characters were released by the makers.
The promo video released on Wednesday officially introduced Yash's protagonist, Raya. As expected, the Kannada sensation is back as a gun-slinging gangster who is not deterred by blood and gore. Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups is the first commercial venture of director Geetu Mohandas, whose last two films Moothon (starring Nivin Pauly) and Liar's Dice (starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui) were independent works.
However, despite the promo living up to the expectations of the fans, the director is being trolled by a section of fans in her native Kerala. Geetu Mohandas, a staunch feminist who has always stood against objectifying women in movies, has now done the same, those ridiculing her claimed. They alleged she either shelved her values for the success of her project or was forced to leave them behind for the sake of completing the dream project.
Nithin Renji Panicker, who directed Kasaba, also joined the wagon on Wednesday afternoon. The young director on social media questioned the actress-director's double standards, stating that the same person who criticized his movie on the grounds of misogyny conveniently revised the interpretation when she made a film in another industry. He also pointed out that the director of Toxic is the same person who was revved up by people shouting "SAY IT SAY IT" when the 'toxic masculinity' scrutiny of his work was at its peak.
Why is Geetu Mohandas trolled?
In the promo, Yash's Raya is shown engaging in sex with a woman inside his car before venturing out to take his enemies head-on. Critics pointed out that the concept of making the car shake while getting physical is as macho as a movie hero gets, while the woman is reduced to a mere body. Geetu Mohandas is a part of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), a group that works for gender equality in the Malayalam film industry through advocacy and policy change, and which has been vocal against objectifying women in Mollywood.
Her critics and trolls asked how Geetu can justify the scene after being at the forefront of criticising Megastar Mammootty's Kasaba for playing a hero who misbehaves with a fellow woman police officer. Geetu had backed actress Parvathy Thiruvothu, pointing out that the lead actor walking away in slow-motion while heroic background music played sent the wrong message. Now, critics are asking if this is not the same thing the hero of her own movie is doing.
If the movie name Toxic and the underworld lineage of Yash's Raya can be used to defend the scene, then Mammootty's CI Rajan Zakaria was no saint either, they pointed out.
Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups
Produced by Yash in association with KVN Productions, Toxic has veteran cinematographer and filmmaker Rajeev Ravi (also Geetu's spouse) as the director of photography. A filmmaker in his own right, known for the Malayalam hits Annayum Rasoolum, Njan Steve Lopez, and Kammattipadam, Rajeev is noted mostly for his critically acclaimed collaborations with filmmaker Anurag Kashyap. Ravi Basrur, who worked on the music for the KGF movies and Salaar, is the composer. Ujwal Kulkarni is the editor, with Abid T.P. behind the production's massive sets.
