The trailer of Yash’s Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups has finally been released, offering the clearest look yet at Geetu Mohandas’ ambitious gangster drama. Launched in Bengaluru on August 8 and released online simultaneously, the trailer presents Yash in a dual role, reveals a violent and deeply fractured family at the centre of the story, and introduces a world shaped by crime, power, betrayal and revenge. Toxic is scheduled to release worldwide in theatres on August 26, 2026.
The trailer’s biggest revelation is Yash’s dual role. The actor plays Raya and a younger character identified in current reporting as Rumi, with their relationship emerging as one of the central mysteries of the film. The trailer appears to establish them as father and son, suggesting that the conflict between the two characters is not simply a battle between rival gangsters but a deeply personal struggle rooted in family and the past.
Raya is presented as a powerful figure within a violent criminal world, while the younger character appears to represent a different generation and a different relationship with the power Raya has accumulated. The trailer does not explain the complete history between them, but it repeatedly returns to the idea of a father and son whose paths eventually collide. That dynamic gives Toxic a dramatic foundation beyond its action and gangster elements.
The film’s world is considerably darker than the title or the “fairy tale” description might suggest. The trailer is filled with gunfire, bloodshed, violence and confrontations, presenting a criminal underworld where power appears to come with a constant threat of betrayal. Alongside the action, however, the film also places considerable emphasis on relationships, particularly the connections between family members and those caught within Raya’s world.
The period setting is another important element revealed by the trailer. The story is reportedly set against the backdrop of Goa’s criminal and drug networks, with the film spanning a period associated with the 1940s to the 1970s. The production design, costumes and locations give the film a distinct period identity, while the scale of the sets and action sequences suggests that Mohandas has approached the material as a large-scale theatrical spectacle rather than a conventional gangster drama.
Kiara Advani’s Nadia appears to occupy an important position within this world. The trailer gives her character a significant dramatic presence, including moments that appear connected to the film’s family conflict. One of the more striking exchanges has Nadia telling Yash’s character to be prepared to “battle chaos with chaos,” reinforcing the sense that she is not simply positioned as a conventional romantic lead.
Watch Toxic Trailer
Nayanthara plays Ganga, another major character whose role appears closely connected to the film’s power structure. The trailer suggests that Ganga has her own influence within the story and may be involved in the larger conflict surrounding Raya. Her presence, along with Kiara’s, indicates that the film’s female characters are being integrated into its central dramatic and power struggles rather than functioning solely on the sidelines.
The trailer also features Huma Qureshi as Elizabeth, Tara Sutaria as Rebecca and Rukmini Vasanth as Melissa. Their exact relationships to the central characters remain unclear, but all three receive glimpses in the trailer, suggesting that the film has a sizeable ensemble whose individual roles will gradually become clearer.
Despite running for more than four minutes, the trailer deliberately avoids explaining the entire story. Instead, it establishes a series of questions around Raya, his family, his past and the younger character played by Yash. The footage moves between violence, family drama, romance and power struggles without providing a straightforward narrative map. That approach leaves the larger story deliberately open while giving audiences enough information to understand the emotional and criminal forces driving the film.
The presentation of Yash is also notably different from simply repeating the formula of KGF. There are clear similarities in the larger-than-life gangster imagery, action and intensity, and early reactions have already compared the trailer’s aggression to the KGF films. However, Toxic appears to be placing greater emphasis on family relationships, emotional conflict and betrayal alongside its action. The result is a film that seems to be using Yash’s established star persona while placing it inside a more complicated dramatic structure.
For director Geetu Mohandas, the film represents a major change in scale. Her earlier work, including Liar’s Dice and Moothon, has been associated with intimate, character-driven storytelling. Toxic moves her into a much larger commercial canvas, combining an extensive ensemble with elaborate production design, large action sequences and a period setting. The trailer suggests that she has retained a stylised visual approach while adapting it to a significantly bigger production.
Yash is also closely involved with the film beyond his performance. He has written the film with Mohandas and is producing it alongside Venkat K. Narayana. Toxic was shot in both Kannada and English, reflecting its ambitions beyond a conventional Kannada-language release, with dubbed versions planned for audiences across India.
The Bengaluru trailer launch brought together Yash, Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria and Rukmini Vasanth, with actor Shiva Rajkumar unveiling the trailer at the event. The launch marked the beginning of the film’s final promotional phase ahead of its theatrical release later this month.
The trailer also makes clear that Toxic is embracing an adult and deliberately provocative tone. Its violence is considerably more graphic than a conventional commercial action film, while several sequences involving Yash and the other characters underline the film’s interest in sexuality, power and moral ambiguity. One brief nude sequence involving Yash has already become a talking point following the trailer’s release, although it is only one element of a much broader presentation.
The immediate response to the trailer has been mixed rather than uniformly positive. Yash’s performance, the scale of the production, the action and the visual design have generated strong enthusiasm, while some viewers have questioned the narrative clarity and the intensity of the violence. There has also been discussion around the Hindi dubbing and whether the trailer’s visual spectacle gives away enough of the story without fully explaining it.
Ultimately, the trailer positions Toxic as more than another gangster action film built around Yash. Its central hook is the actor playing two generations of the same family, with a father-son conflict seemingly driving the story. Around that relationship, Geetu Mohandas has constructed a period world of crime, power, romance and betrayal, populated by a large ensemble of characters whose loyalties are still largely concealed.
The trailer answers one major question—what kind of film Toxic is shaping up to be—but leaves another unanswered: how all of these characters and timelines ultimately connect. For now, the film is being presented as a dark, stylised gangster epic with a strong family drama at its core.
Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups, directed by Geetu Mohandas and starring Yash alongside Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria and Rukmini Vasanth, is scheduled to release worldwide in theatres on August 26, 2026.
Read More: