Raj B Shetty on Toby: 'Experimental cinema always carries a few negative reactions'

Raj B Shetty's films, in the past, have evoked strong reactions in his audience and his latest film Toby, too, has attracted its share of feedback that ranges from extremely positive to negative. While on the one hand, Raj's own performance, the setting, the nativity, the music and the cinematography have garnered a lot of praise, the film has also been pulled up by a few for its slightly unfocused narrative in the second half. Chaithra J Achar, too, has received praise for her role as Jenny in the film. 

Toby is more experimental compared to Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana

Speaking about the varied reactions to his film to a media outlet, Raj B Shetty highlighted the fact that, quite surprisingly, his film has impressed family audiences. As far as the few mixed-to-negative reactions are concerned, he says:

"Every time you try to play safe with a film, things get easy. But when you experiment - it could be making the protagonist mute or showing an unconventional father-daughter relationship - you are bound to get negative reactions. Garuda Gamana...too was experimental in nature but maybe not as much as Toby, and that film got largely positive reviews and a few negative ones. With respect to Toby, the reception so far is quite encouraging."

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The recently held celebrity premiere of Toby saw several noted names of the Kannada Film Industry heap compliments on Raj & Co. Actor Rakshit Shetty, too, tweeted about the film following its theatrical release and called it a 'beautiful' film. 

Mixed reactions affecting Toby's box office?

While Toby carried a lot of promise ahead of its release, the film has not yielded the expected results at the box office. The opening-day reviews, as they often do, have evidently had an impact on the film and with big releases like King of Kotha, Jailer, Gadar 2 and others to contend with, Toby has not taken off to the start one hoped it would. 

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According to trade reports, the Basil Alchalakkal directorial earned close to Rs. 3.7 crores (nett) in the opening weekend and encountered a big dip the following Monday with only Rs. 0.4 crores to its name.