Yash’s Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups has barely completed a day in theatres, but its release has already sparked a different kind of controversy, YouTubers and influencers who posted critical reviews say they’ve received legal notices from the film’s team.
This comes days after the producers secured an ex-parte interim injunction from a Bengaluru court restraining the “publication or circulation of false or defamatory content” about the film.
YouTuber Suraj Kumar shared a screenshot of a notice he received from Bengaluru-based Aiplex Software, sent on behalf of KVN-Monster Mind Creations LLP, the film’s producer.
The notice pointed to Suraj’s review, posted the day the film released, alleging it had been “published, circulated, shared, posted and/or otherwise communicated” online. Suraj shared the notice without taking the video down, captioning it, “Thank You Team #Toxic For the Legal Notice on My Review.”
Tamil YouTuber Prashanth Rangaswamy also received a notice, writing on X, “Got legal notice from @TheNameIsYash and @KvnProductions for #Toxic review. I thought he is all macho in real life as well. Looks like he is just another rich and influential person!”
An X influencer had reportedly received a similar notice earlier, hours after posting a negative review in Tamil.
According to the notice, Aiplex is authorised to act on the producers’ behalf from July 13 to September 26, sending takedown notices and approaching platforms, ISPs and search engines.
It’s worth noting a legal notice isn’t the same as a court order, the actual court injunction, granted on August 22 by Bengaluru’s Additional City Civil and Sessions Court, specifically targets false or defamatory content, and remains in effect only until the next hearing on September 28.
Aiplex has been involved in similar disputes before, with Telugu YouTuber Sushant previously accusing the company of using copyright strikes against critical reviews during opening weekends.
Toxicdirected by Geetu Mohandas and starring Yash, Kiara Advani, Nayanthara and others, has received largely negative reviews, and its box office collection dropped sharply from Rs 101 crore on Day 1 to around Rs 36 crore on Day 2.