Mumbai: The Yash-starrer ‘Toxic: A Fairytale For Grown-Ups’ has landed in trouble after the women’s wing of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) submitted a formal complaint to the Karnataka State Women’s Commission over the ‘obscene and explicit’ visuals in the film’s teaser.
After the teaser was dropped on January 8, a section of social media users was impressed, but some felt the film won’t be as good as ‘Dhurandhar 2’ and criticised how director Geetu Mohandas had ‘objectified women’ in it.
Now, AAP state secretary Usha Mohan, in a letter to the State Women’s Commission, complained that the teaser contained “obscene and explicit” visuals which could harm the “social well-being of women and children”.
She further claimed that the objectionable scenes were released across the public platform without any age-related statutory warning, and stressed they “degraded the dignity of women” and “insulted Kannada culture.”
Citing the teaser’s negative impact on society, particularly on minors, the women’s wing urged the commission to intervene immediately and instruct state authorities to ban the teaser and get it removed from all social media platforms.
The women’s wing further appealed to the commission to treat the matter seriously and take immediate steps to “uphold the cultural and moral values of the state.”
Amid the backlash, the film’s director Geetu shared a cryptic story on Instagram.
“Chilling while people figure out female pleasure, consent, women playing systems, etc, etc.”
Lauding Geetu for the teaser, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma wrote on X, “After seeing the @TheNameIsYash starring trailer of #Toxic, I do not doubt that @GeethuMohandas_ is the ultimate symbol of Women Empowerment. No Male director is Man enough in comparison to this Woman. I still can’t believe she shot this.”
Praising Geetu, Sandeep Reddy Vanga wrote, “TOXIC teaser just knocked me out. Style. Attitude. Chaos.”
Besides Yash, the film also stars Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, Rukmini Vasanth, Kiara Advani, and Tara Sutaria in key roles and is slated to release on March 19, 2026.
