Yash's four year break from the big screen was supposed to come to an end with 'Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-ups', but right now it's looking like a full-blown mess - more like a lengthy legal battle than a fairytale. Just when the production team was finally getting into full gear for its March 19, 2026 release (following a long four-year wait from the fans), a brand new controversy has come along and brought everything crashing to a halt. The National Christian Federation, led by articulate President Pradeep Kumar, made a formal complaint this week to the CBFC and the Karnataka state government, claiming that the film's teaser (which has itself now gained an eye-watering 200 million views) is nothing less than an attack on the religious beliefs of millions.
The crux of this furore (yes, that's the right word) is a cemetery shootout scene. The Federation is taking aim at a sequence where Yash is involved in a violent and quite intense gunfight with Beatriz Taufenbach, in the background of which there just so happens to be a statue of Archangel Michael. They're not just asking for the segment to be cut - they want it gone altogether from the internet and a public apology from director Geetu Mohandas. And that's a big problem for a film that has a whopping ₹600 crore budget - to have its marketing momentum killed by a religious backlash just five short weeks before its premiere is a real crisis for distributors like Dil Raju who – as you know - just shelled out a whopping ₹120 crore for the Telugu rights - and is now probably lying awake at night, worrying.
This current religious backlash is just the tip of the iceberg, its part of a much bigger censorship battle that has been going on for months now. January was a hard month with the Karnataka State Women’s Commission and the AAP's women's wing up in arms over the same teaser, claiming it contained "obscene visuals" and was generally a bit too much for their taste. The fact that there's currently a legal FIR on the go for allegedly chopping down a tree on forest land in Bengaluru (on top of this, the moral crusades) - and this is still all on top of the original teaser controversy - means that Toxic is currently the most contentious film in Indian cinema. Geetu Mohandas, who is admirably) known for her grit – is now locked in a huge "tonal" battle with the Censor Board - how do you make a film that's fun for "grown-ups" without (in the process) losing the soul of the film to all the various cuts and edits?
The stakes are basically not just limited to local and domestic concerns - they're global. Toxic has got a record-breaking ₹105 crore overseas deal lined up with Phars Film for its international releases, in all the local languages. So any delay in getting a green light from the Censor Board doesn't just delay the release at home in India, it basically sets off a massive international machine in chaos. And its not like the film has got plenty of competition coming up either - it's got a head on clash with Ranveer Singh’s Dhurandhar: The Revenge on March 19 - so Yash can't really afford to get a "U/A" certificate that looks watered down - because it will basically look like the film has been through a paper shredder and back out the other side. All eyes are now on the Censor Board to see whether they can sort it and give the film a clean pass, or if Yash (the film’s star) will be back in the editing suite in a last-ditch bid to rescue this runaway train.