Anurag Kashyap has defended Yash’s upcoming film, Toxic, weeks after its first look teaser faced backlash for a graphic sex scene. The filmmaker has said the backlash revealed the society’s ‘cultural hypocrisy’ and said that male actors go shirtless all the time, but nobody bats an eyelid.
Anurag Kashyap defends Toxic teaser
Anurag appeared at the 17th Bengaluru International Film Festival, where he spoke about cinema, politics, and technology in a session titled ‘Fearless Film Making’, moderated by film critic Baradwaj Rangan. Here, Anurag talked about the backlash Toxic teaser received. Praising the film as ‘an extremely courageous attempt’, the filmmaker said, “The outrage expressed against the teaser reveals our cultural hypocrisy. When male actors appear shirtless on screen or display excessive machismo, no one questions it. But when a woman celebrates her sexuality, it becomes hard to accept.”
The backlash to Toxic teaser
The teaser of Toxic introduced Yash’s character as he went on a rampage in a cemetery. But before that, scenes showed a graphic sex scene in a van between the protagonist and an unnamed female actor. Many online said the scene was unnecessary and criticised the makers for pandering to the male gaze. The female actor in the teaser, Beatriz Taufenbach, was forced to delete her social media following the backlash. The Women’s Commission also criticised the teaser.
