Vishal Mishra has shared fresh insights into the making of Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups, calling the Rocking Star Yash-starrer “one of the most sought-after films of India.” Speaking on The Zac Sang Show, the singer-composer opened up about the creative process behind Tabaahi, the film’s first song, and his collaboration with Yash.
Describing Toxic as an ambitious multilingual project, Vishal revealed that the film has been shot in English and Kannada and is being dubbed into Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam, making it a six-language release with every song recorded across all versions. Calling Yash “like a brother,” Vishal said, “Toxic is one of the most sought-after films of India. It has one of my favourite heroes—he’s like a brother to me—Yash. We’re releasing the film in English, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi, so it’s a six-language film and all the songs are being made in every language.”
Speaking about the vision behind Tabaahi, he explained that the team wanted the song to feel instinctive, primal, and deeply rooted in the film’s emotional world rather than follow the conventions of a typical romantic number. “It’s as cinematic as it gets. It’s as raw as it gets. It’s like somebody’s scratching your body, the song. This song was about love. It was about making love to the person that you love, but not in the usual way. We wanted it to feel like a lion putting it out there that, ‘I’m in love with you.’ So you’ll get that grungy, raw feeling in the song, and I think that’s what people like and have connected to.”
Vishal also revealed that Tabaahi was composed after the sequence had already been filmed. “For Toxic, they shot the song without the music on some random piece of music, and they came to me. When Yash and I sat together, we thought that we could create beats. It’s like giving a score to a six-minute scene, which eventually becomes a song. It’s so married to the visuals of the film.”
Explaining his creative process, Vishal said that every song begins with understanding the emotional journey of the characters on screen.
“If I’m not able to understand emotion, I can’t write it. I have to experience it somewhere. Are you watching the film while you’re writing the song? Of course. Sometimes a director already has a visual in mind, sometimes we get involved while the script is being written. Every film has a different process, but the emotion has to come from the characters.”
Expressing his excitement for what’s ahead, the singer added, “It’s a very interesting film. I can’t wait for all the music to unfold and the film to unfold eventually. I think it’s going to do really well.”
Written, produced, and headlined by Rocking Star Yash under Monster Mind Creations, Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups is directed by Geetu Mohandas and jointly produced by Venkat K. Narayana and Yash under KVN Productions and Monster Mind Creations. The film stars Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Tara Sutaria, Rukmini Vasanth, and Huma Qureshi, and is slated for a worldwide theatrical release on August 26, 2026.