Toxic brouhaha

Kiara Advani shares new stills from Toxic after facing online criticism for her intimate scenes with Yash in Tabaahi

Geetu Mohandas’ Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups has been making headlines for multiple reasons, with its promotional assets receiving mixed reactions from netizens. On Wednesday, the makers unveiled the song Tabaahi, featuring Yash and Kiara Advani. The song includes several intimate scenes between the two actors, which have drawn criticism on social media.

Amid the trolling, Kiara took to Instagram on Thursday to share new stills from the film. She captioned the pictures, “Leaving a little chaos wherever she goes N A D I A (sic).” While the actress did not address the criticism directly, some social media users speculated that her caption was a response to the trolls.

Meanwhile, several fans came out in Kiara’s support. One fan wrote, “Love of fan is far greater than any hate and you know it.  So just keep going my love (sic).” Another commented, “Every frame, every glimpse... NADIA SLAYING without saying anything (sic).” A third wrote, “Well done Kiara!! We want Uncensored version for international release!! (sic).”

However, some netizens continued to troll the actress, with a few even mentioning her husband, Sidharth Malhotra, in the comments.

After being delayed twice, Toxic is now slated to release on August 26, 2026. While it will have a solo release on its opening day, the film will face competition over the weekend from Shraddha Kapoor-starrer Eetha and Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia-starrer Vvan, both of which are scheduled to release on August 28, 2026. The teaser of Eetha has already received a positive response, setting up an interesting box-office clash.

Erotica redefined

Noorulain Sayed

My very first tryst with anything sensual onscreen was the feather scene between shehzada Salim (Dilip Kumar) and the kaneez Anarkali (Madhubala) in Mughal-e-Azam (1960). I was a teenager, awestruck by what was shown and curious about what was very carefully left to everyone’s imagination.

Cut to 2026. Now, as an adult, just when I thought I had seen it all in terms of Bollywood ‘onscreen erotica’ (which, let me say, very few films have ever gotten right), I chanced upon the video of the song Tabaahi from Toxic. The soon-to-be-released film features a sizzling number with Yash and Kiara Advani doing what two adults in love (or lust) do, in every imaginable place. From a beach to a car, and from a dark alley to atop a scenic old monument with rocky cliffs overlooking the sea, the makers have shown smooches et al galore.

As soon as the Tabaahi video dropped, there was a lot of trolling, especially targeted at Kiara. On the other hand, Yash was called “cool” and “handsome”. So, this boils down to one thing. When a male actor and a female actor feature in a “bold” song, the public is quick to label and throw shade at the heroine while lapping up the hero’s ‘antics’.

This reaction from the public is a reflection of how, even today, women are judged very differently from their male counterparts. Khair, humein kya? We will wait till the film’s release to find out if the sensuality shown was merely to grab eyeballs or if it actually holds substance.