Toxic's birthday clip shows Geetu Mohandas in full command

For Geetu Mohandas’ birthday, the team behind Toxic skipped the poster and the cake photo and released something far more telling: a behind-the-scenes video of her at work. It is a quiet flex. The clip puts the actor-turned-director at the centre of a set most filmmakers will never operate at, calling shots, blocking large action sequences, steering performances and moving a vast crew with an ease that needs no narration.

The footage went out with a line that doubles as a tribute. “Behind every shot that hit different, every silence that said more than dialogue ever could, there she was.” What it really argues is a point about scale and who gets to handle it. Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups is a period gangster film reported to be among the most expensive ever mounted in Indian cinema, and Geetu Mohandas is one of very few women to have helmed a production of this size and global reach.

The video is less a sizzle reel than a study of a director who is across every detail. She is seen balancing the creative vision with the operational command a film like this demands: expansive recreated streets, intricate stunt choreography, an international-scale production rolling at once. The takeaway the cut is built to leave is simple, that the film’s ambition and the calm at its helm are the same story.

Toxic stars Yash, reportedly in a dual role, alongside Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Huma Qureshi, Rukmini Vasanth and Tara Sutaria. It is produced by KVN Productions and Monster Mind Creations, and has stayed in the headlines on the strength of its scale and its sharp turn away from the KGF template, a fairy tale, the title insists, but one written for adults.

The film is set for a worldwide release, the date still open after Yash pulled it off its June 4 slot for a rethink. On the evidence of this clip, the most anticipated thing about it may not be its budget but the person standing behind the monitor.