EXCLUSIVE: Amid UAE ban and PIL controversy, Sanjay Dutt starrer Aakhri Sawal heads for special screening at Rashtrapati Bhavan today

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In a major development surrounding one of the year’s most talked-about films, Sanjay Dutt starrer Aakhri Sawal is set to hold a special screening at Rashtrapati Bhavan today, Bollywood Hungama has exclusively learned. The screening comes amid mounting controversy around the film. Over the past few days, Aakhri Sawal has been making headlines after reports surfaced of the film being banned in the UAE, while a PIL was also reportedly filed against the project in India. Despite the storm surrounding the film, the makers appear unfazed and are moving ahead with an aggressive rollout strategy. Sources close to the development reveal that preparations for the Rashtrapati Bhavan screening have been underway quietly over the last few days, though details regarding the guest list and attendees remain under wraps. Directed as a hard-hitting social drama, Aakhri Sawal features an ensemble cast led by Sanjay Dutt, the film has already generated substantial curiosity because of its subject matter ...
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‘It has become a sort of silver bullet’: why are rap lyrics being put on trial?

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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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