The woman in the steamy scene opposite Yash in Toxic: A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups teaser is Beatriz Taufenbach, not Natalie Burn, according to a statement director Geetu Mohandas issued on Friday.
Her statement comes hours after the internet misidentified the actress in the teaser as Burn, a Ukranian-American actress. It led to several reports, with Burn featuring among top trends on Google and X.
“This beauty is my cemetery girl,” Mohandas wrote on her Instagram story, tagging Taufenbach, whose Instagram profile is private.
The makers of Toxic unveiled the teaser on Thursday to mark lead actor Yash’s birthday.
Set in a cemetery, the teaser opens with a sombre funeral scene in which a man, presumably a criminal ganglord, has gathered his associates to bury his child. The quiet service is abruptly interrupted by the arrival of a car. Yash’s character then blows up the cemetery, steps out of the vehicle and opens fire on the survivors, but not before sharing an explosive, intimate moment with Taufenbach, a sequence that has since grabbed headlines and set social media abuzz.
Previously, the makers released first-look posters of Kiara Advani as Nadia and Huma Qureshi as Elizabeth. Nayanthara will be seen as Ganga, while Rukmini Vasanth essays the role of Melissa.
Produced by Venkat K. Narayana and Yash under the banners of KVN Productions and Monster Mind Creations, Toxic also stars Akshay Oberoi in a key role. The film is slated to release in theatres on 19 March 2026. It will clash with Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar 2 at the box office. Toxic marks Yash’s first project since Prashanth Neel’s 2022 blockbuster KGF: Chapter 2.