PremiumToby Twitter review: ‘Raj B Shetty’s best’, ‘Chaithra Achar’s outstanding’, say netizens
Toby, a film written and produced by Raj B Shetty and directed by Basil AL Chalakkal released in theatres today
Last Updated: 06.31 PM, Aug 25, 2023
Over the last several weeks, actor-filmmaker Raj B Shetty has been spearheading the promotions of his film Toby, which released in theatres today. Written by Raj, based on a short story by TK Dayanand, the writer of films like Benki Patna and Bell Bottom, Toby has been directed by the former’s long-time associate Basil AL Chalakkal.
The film began its box office journey on a slightly muted note, what with it being a festival, but not a government holiday, but with reports from the first show pouring in, that began to change. By and large everyone who has seen the film so far has ben highly appreciative of Raj’s writing, his acting, the background score by Midhun Mukundan, Praveen Shriyan’s cinematography and Chaithra J Achar’s performance. The film was also hailed for being an emotional rollercoaster.
Several audiences pointed out that it is not as gripping as Raj’s earlier Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana, which can be accounted to the fact that unlike the gangster tale, Toby is about a family man, the people around him and the circumstances leading to him seeking revenge. Actor-filmmaker Rakshit Shetty was among the early birds to voice his appreciation for the film, writing, “#Toby is beautiful… @RajbShettyOMK and @Chaithra_Achar_ steal the show with their performance. Top notch writing, cinematography and music… Don’t miss this one…”
Read our review: Toby movie review: Raj B Shetty presents a heart-achingly beautiful and tragic tale
Toby, according to Raj, is a film he decided to make after a rather dark episode in his life, the anger of which he channelled into writing the film and into his non-stop promotional activities. The intention, he had said, was to make a good film and not just a good Kannada film, which he hopes will travel and enable audiences in other areas to watch and appreciate the language and the culture. The actor-filmmaker has, however clarified that he has dubbed the film in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi and will release it in the respective markets depending on the demand for it. Given the current uptick in bookings for the Kannada version, it may not take long for Toby to release everywhere.