EXCLUSIVE: R Madhavan sneaks into Mumbai’s Chitra Cinema to watch Dhurandhar The Revenge; here’s how he made sure moviegoers didn’t realize he was seated among them

For a celebrity, watching their own film in a theatre is always a risk, as there’s the fear of being recognized by the audience, which can lead to chaos. This is especially true in single-screen cinemas. But at the same time, that’s where one gets to witness the most electric audience response. Two days ago, on April 1, R Madhavan weighed the pros and cons and took the plunge. He watched his film, Dhurandhar The Revenge, with the audience at a single-screen theatre in Mumbai. Usually, actors prefer visiting G7, aka Gaiety-Galaxy. However, R Madhavan chose Chitra Cinema in Dadar instead. Yesterday, on April 2, film exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi posted a story where the actor can be seen enjoying the film. Sometime later, he also posted a picture where R Madhavan is seen posing with Akshaye Rathi and a few more friends in the lobby of Chitra. After the story and post were uploaded, Bollywood Hungama spoke to Akshaye Rathi. He said, “R Madhavan was keen to get a first-hand exp...

‘It has become a sort of silver bullet’: why are rap lyrics being put on trial?

In compelling documentary As We Speak, a controversial legal practice that uses rap lyrics to secure convictions is explored

In September 2001, McKinley Phipps Jr, also known as the rapper Mac, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for manslaughter. It had been a year and a half since gunfire erupted outside a club where he was slated to perform in Slidell, Louisiana, resulting in the death of 19-year-old Barron Victor Jr. Phipps, then 22, maintained his innocence, and the case against him was weak – there was no gun linking him to the crime, several witnesses recanted their testimony and another person confessed to pulling the trigger. And yet, prosecutors had their trump card: Mac, a former New Orleans rap prodigy who began releasing music at the age of 13, had rapped about murder.

“Murder, murder, kill, kill”, Phipps recites in As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial, a new documentary on the criminalization of rap lyrics. Prosecutors spliced that line with one from a different song – “Pull the trigger, put a bullet in your head” – to create the portrait of a killer; Mac’s art was the evidence that DNA, solid confessions, or a missing weapon couldn’t provide. An all-white jury bought it. Phipps served over 21 years in prison before being granted clemency in 2021.

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