Filmmaker Geetu Mohandas appears to have subtly addressed the wave of online criticism surrounding the recently released introduction teaser of Toxic, the upcoming gangster action thriller headlined by Yash. The teaser, which promises to present Yash in a never-seen-before avatar, quickly became a talking point — not just for its scale and tone, but for a bold car sequence involving a sexual encounter, which has divided audiences sharply.

Geetu Mohandas responds to Toxic teaser trolls as internet debate intensifies: “Chilling while people figure out female pleasure”

Soon after the teaser dropped, sections of social media began calling out the scene for what they perceived as objectification of women, questioning its relevance to the narrative and its portrayal of intimacy. Others went a step further, linking it to larger conversations around consent, sexual politics and representation.

Amid this backlash, Geetu Mohandas took to Instagram on Friday and shared a video with a caption-like text overlay that read, “Chilling while people figure out female pleasure, consent, women playing systems, etc., etc.”

While the filmmaker did not directly reference Toxic or the teaser in her post, many interpreted it as a response to the trolling and criticism that followed the clip’s release.

The teaser has also triggered intense discussions on Reddit, where several users questioned both the intent and execution of the scene. One comment read, “She’s deflecting. The criticism she’s getting has nothing to so with female pleasure or consent or anything related. She knows that as well. Like you said the criticism is because of how useless the scene is, how it’s used and how tacky that it is used like that”.

Another user wrote, “She’s just throwing words like consent and pleasure while doing shitty objectification of women, in a country where rape culture still exists. I hate when some women misunderstand feminist values and use it to justify their shitty beliefs.”

A third comment added, “How does female pleasure come into context here? The character in the teaser seemed like some bar dancer who’s picked by yash’s character, f*cked once and then discarded. And probably a lot other women like that because of whatever issues he’ll have. So that didn’t exactly seem like a progressive representation of women.”

Amid the backlash, Geetu Mohandas also found strong support from filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who publicly praised her on social media. Sharing a photo of Geetu dressed in traditional Malayali attire, RGV wrote, “After seeing the @TheNameIsYash starring trailer of #Toxic I have no 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”.

Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups is an upcoming period gangster action thriller directed by Geetu Mohandas. The film boasts a massive ensemble cast featuring Yash, Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria, with Rukmini Vasanth in an important role. It is jointly produced by Venkat K. Narayana and Yash under the banners KVN Productions and Monster Mind Creations.

With its provocative teaser already igniting debate weeks ahead of release, Toxic seems poised to remain in the spotlight — both for its cinematic ambition and the conversations it has sparked around representation, intent and storytelling in mainstream Indian cinema.

Also Read: Rukmini Vasanth cheers Yash as Toxic teaser unveils him as Raya; pens a heartfelt birthday note