Geetu Mohandas: Woman behind Yash’s Toxic is child actor who became award-winning Indie filmmaker

Mumbai: When the trailer for Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups is released on August 8, the focus will naturally be on Yash and the world around his character. However, behind the camera is Geetu Mohandas, a filmmaker whose journey to a big-budget action film has been anything but typical.

Known for her films Liar’s Dice (2013) and Moothon (2019), Geetu has earned a reputation for storytelling that centres on strong characters and unique perspectives. Toxic marks a major new phase in her career, taking her from the independent film world to one of the most ambitious commercial projects of her career.

Geetu Mohandas’ journey from child actor to filmmaker

Geetu’s connection to the film industry began when she was just five years old. She appeared alongside Mohanlal in the Malayalam film Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare (1986), which marked the beginning of her long relationship with the film business.

As a child actor, she played the lead role in the Tamil film En Bommukutty Ammavukku (1988), a remake of the Malayalam classic Ente Mamattikkuttiyammakku (1983), in which Shalini played the central character.

Years later, Geetu returned to acting as an adult with Life Is Beautiful (2000), again working with Mohanlal. She went on to appear in several Malayalam films, including Thenkasipattanam (2000), Valkannadi (2002), and Nammal Thammil (2009).

However, it was her performance in Akale (2004), directed by Shyamaprasad, that brought her widespread recognition. The film earned her the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress and the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam.

Geetu gradually shifted her focus from acting to filmmaking. In 2009, she started her own production initiative, seeking creative freedom to tell stories driven by characters rather than sticking to standard formats.

Her first short film, Kelkkunnundo (Are You Listening?), marked a crucial turning point. The film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and received three international awards for Best Short Fiction. It also won the National Film Award in India. Her transition into feature filmmaking brought even more international attention.

Liar’s Dice became a landmark for Geetu and was selected as India’s official entry for the Academy Awards. The film established her as a filmmaker with a strong independent voice, capable of telling socially relevant stories from a personal perspective.

Geetu followed Liar’s Dice with Moothon, a film that highlighted the range of her storytelling. The project received support and mentorship from the Sundance Film Lab, where she was awarded the Global Filmmaking Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016.

Moothon had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 and was also selected as the opening film for MAMI that year.

By then, Geetu had firmly established herself as a filmmaker who could seamlessly move between personal stories and larger social themes.

How Geetu landed Yash’s Toxic

That makes her involvement with Toxic all the more intriguing. Why did Yash choose Geetu for Toxic?

Yash’s decision to work with Geetu brought together two very different cinematic worlds: the grand scale and star power of a major commercial action film, and the distinctive style of an internationally recognised indie filmmaker.

The choice, reportedly, came from Yash’s desire to work with a filmmaker who would approach the project from a fresh angle. Instead of opting for a conventional action director, he saw the value in Geetu’s storytelling approach, especially her ability to bring a female perspective to the film’s gritty underworld setting.

Producer Ramesh Taurani also confirmed that.

The collaboration also seems to be based on a shared creative vision. Geetu’s experience with character-driven narratives could give Toxic a unique flavour and depth beyond its action and spectacle.

Toxic marks Geetu’s leap into commercial cinema

For Geetu, Toxic represents a major step in her career. She has moved from acting as a child to becoming an award-winning performer and then an internationally recognised filmmaker. With Toxic, she is now entering the world of large-scale commercial cinema, with Yash at the heart of the story.

The trailer, releasing on August 8, will offer the first real and substantial look at how the actress-turned-director’s filmmaking style has translated into this much bigger world.

For a filmmaker whose career has always been about taking the less-travelled path, Toxic could be her most ambitious experiment yet.