Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-ups (2026)

Toxic is the kind of action-thriller that feels sunlit on the surface and poisonous underneath, using Goa’s postcard beauty as a wicked contrast to the rot of power, smuggling, and fear. Geethu Mohandas brings a filmmaker’s eye to the genre—letting atmosphere, period detail, and mounting dread do as much work as the fists and gunfire—so the movie plays like a slow-burn fever dream that keeps tightening its grip. Yash commands the screen with a dangerous charisma, while Kiara Advani and Huma Qureshi add steel and complication to a world where trust is a currency that collapses overnight. If you prefer clean heroes and tidy morality, this may feel too grim and morally murky, but if you want a stylish descent into ambition and paranoia with real bite, it’s hard to shake.

Toxic is clearly aiming for a sweeping, old-school crime saga—Goa as a gorgeous postcard on the surface, and a rotten, paranoid underworld underneath—powered by Yash’s larger-than-life presence and Geethu Mohandas’ ambition. The catch is that if you’re expecting a lean, propulsive action-thriller, the period-spanning “rise and rot” structure can feel more like a slow burn chronicle than a punchy ride, with mood and machinations sometimes taking precedence over clean, satisfying momentum. It also leans into betrayal-and-suspicion territory, which can start to feel repetitive if you’re not into grim, morally murky power plays. Still, the setting, scale, and central performances give it weight, so it’s worth a look if you like atmospheric gangster epics—just don’t go in expecting nonstop thrills or easy heroes to root for.