The legal dispute connected with Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups has now extended beyond the case in the Bengaluru court, as YouTubers and film reviewers have posted screenshots of the legal notices which they say they received from the film's team.
Suraj Kumar, a YouTuber, was one of the first to publish a notice following his review of the Yash-starrer. Tamil film reviewer Prashanth Rangaswamy has likewise made his reaction to the film and the screenshots regarding the legal action publicly available. It has now been reported that other online reviewers and influencers have been approached about content on Toxic.
The development comes after the Additional City Civil and Sessions Court in Bengaluru issued an interim order on August 22 in a case brought by KVN Productions LLP. The court awarded an ex-parte temporary injunction prohibiting the publication and distribution of material which the producers claim to be false, malicious, defamatory or derogatory concerning the film.
This order is only temporary and the case is set for another hearing on September 28. It is important to note that the order does not explicitly ban negative reviews or criticism of Toxic; the legal difference lies in the distinction between criticism and content which the producers say goes beyond criticism and enters into defamation or other actionable claims.
The notices have also brought the position of filmmakers and producers within the digital review system into question. A production team is fully within their rights to contest clearly false statements, forged accusations or material which they regard as defamatory. However, when legal notices are sent to reviewers right around the time a film is released, a bigger issue arises as to whether this could have a chilling effect on regular film criticism. In this day and age of YouTube, X and Instagram, film reviews are not anymore limited to newspapers and magazines, and a filmmaker can deal with a factual allegation without having to see an unfavourable opinion as a legal offence. The Toxic case is therefore increasingly becoming one less about whether a film can be criticised and more about where the industry wishes to draw the line between safeguarding a film's reputation and permitting independent criticism to exist.
The fact that this happened is important. Toxic had its worldwide release on August 26 and the companies reported a global opening day revenue of Rs 150 crore. Trade trackers have since put the film's India net collection above the Rs 100 crore figure on its first day, even though on Day 2 it drops.
The film has attracted a split reaction, with commendations given to Yash's performance, the scale of the production and the technical work, while at the same time facing criticism regarding its script, length and the way it handles some of the characters. Discussion on social media has also turned to focus on individual scenes, with the controversy surrounding Rukmini Vasanth's role being a point of debate.
The filmmakers might take immediate legal action in order to counter what they see as misinformation during the important early days of the film's release. However, this could also result in the legal notices becoming part of the public discussion about the film. Rather than merely discussing Toxic, the public is now also debating Toxic's reaction to those who don't like it. Since the injunction's hearing is scheduled for September 28, the case could serve as a significant test of how far film producers can go when dealing with online criticism, especially in cases where the content in question is a review and not an allegation of fact.