Rap star NBA YoungBoy will not face jail time for his role in a months-long fraud scheme to illegally obtain prescription drugs from several Utah pharmacies.

The 25-year-old rapper (born Kentrell DeSean Gaulden) entered a plea deal for which he admitted guilt during a Monday hearing at a Logan County courtroom to several counts of identity fraud, forgery and “unlawful pharmacy conduct.”

In April, the Cache County Sheriff’s Office filed an affidavit that named Gaulden as a primary suspect in a scheme from September 2023 to February 2024 that involved posing as a doctor to fill prescriptions for promethazine with codeine — a controlled substance — in pharmacies in cities including Hyrum, Logan and Smithfield. He was arrested April 16 on more than 40 charges including identity fraud, forgery and “procuring or attempting to procure” prescription drugs.

On Monday, Gaulden (also known as YoungBoy Never Broke Again) pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree felony identity fraud, two counts of third-degree felony forgery, and six counts of misdemeanor unlawful pharmacy conduct. He entered a “no contest” plea deal to the remaining charges.

While Gaulden will not face prison time in Utah, his four felony charges were reduced to Class A misdemeanors and he was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine, according to KTVX-TV.

A legal representative for Gaulden did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

District Judge Spencer D. Walsh agreed to suspend a prison sentence as the Grammy-nominated “Need It” rapper is already expected to serve 27 months in federal prison for related charges in a case stemming out of Weber County, Utah. Following his release, Gaulden will then be placed on five years of federal supervised probation.

Gaulden had been living under house arrest in Weber County for three years. In March 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Gaulden, accusing the musician of possessing an unregistered firearm and “possession of firearms by a convicted felon” in connection to a 2020 case. The rapper’s relocation to Utah came as part of a deal in 2021 in which his lawyers argued that “moving to Utah would keep YoungBoy out of trouble.”

During Monday’s hearing, Walsh said it was clear that Gaulden was a talented young man and that he didn’t want the musician to waste his potential.

“I’m sure that in your future, once you’re done with your federal prison time, you can be really successful on federal probation and have a really bright future where you can reach your full potential in every aspect of your life,” Walsh added. “Best of luck to you, Mr. Gaulden.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Malayalam film Kishkindha Kaandam, directed by Dinjith Ayyathan, hit theaters on September 12, 2024, and quickly became a box office success, earning over ₹70 crore on a modest ₹7 crore budget. With a stellar cast including Asif Ali, Aparna Balamurali, and Vijayaraghavan, this movie has now begun streaming on OTT platform Disney plus Hotstar. Let’s dive into the Kishkindha Kaandam Movie Review to see what makes it stand out.

Plot Overview
Set in a village bordering a forest, the story revolves around Appu Pillai (Vijayaraghavan), a retired army officer living with his son Ajay Chandra (Asif Ali), daughter-in-law Praveena (Vaishnavi Raj), and grandson Chachu (Aarav). Tragedy strikes when Praveena passes away, and Chachu mysteriously disappears.

While the investigation into Chachu’s disappearance forms a crucial part of the narrative, the police station instructs Appu to surrender his licensed gun due to the upcoming elections. However, the gun has been missing for a long time, complicating matters further. The police warn that even a single missing bullet could lead to serious consequences.

As Ajay remarries Aparna (Aparna Balamurali), she moves into the family home and learns that Appu suffers from memory loss. Aparna grows suspicious of Appu’s behavior, particularly his reluctance to let anyone enter his room and his habit of burning items in a secluded area. Her investigation into Chachu’s disappearance and the missing gun forms the crux of the film.

Analysis
Kishkindha Kaandam revolves around three key characters: the father, the son, and the daughter-in-law. Aparna’s desire to find Chachu and bring happiness back to her family drives the first half of the movie. As she uncovers clues linking Appu to Chachu’s disappearance and the missing gun, the tension escalates in the second half.

The narrative cleverly intertwines memory loss, a missing gun, and a child’s disappearance, keeping the audience guessing until the very end. The film’s strength lies in its minimalist approach, focusing on a small cast and localized settings. The title, Kishkindha Kaandam, reflects the village’s unique connection to monkeys, adding a symbolic layer to the plot.

Director Dinjith Ayyathan skillfully maintains suspense without relying on exaggerated drama, keeping the story grounded in realism. This approach makes the twists and turns feel natural and engaging.

Performances
Vijayaraghavan delivers a standout performance as the enigmatic and suspicious Appu Pillai. His portrayal of a man struggling with memory loss while harboring secrets is both compelling and nuanced. Asif Ali shines as Ajay, caught between family responsibilities and professional duties. Aparna Balamurali impresses with her natural acting, convincingly portraying a new bride navigating the complexities of her new family while trying to uncover the truth.

Technical Aspects
Cinematography: Ramesh’s visuals beautifully capture the lush, forested village, enhancing the story’s atmosphere.
Music: Mujeeb Majeed’s haunting background score elevates the suspense.
Editing: Suraj’s crisp editing ensures a tight narrative, particularly in the second half.
Malayalam cinema continues its tradition of seamlessly integrating stories with authentic locations, making the events on screen feel believable and immersive.

Verdict
Kishkindha Kaandam is a captivating mystery thriller with strong performances, a well-crafted screenplay, and stunning visuals. It’s a testament to the power of storytelling and naturalistic filmmaking. This is a movie that can be enjoyed with the whole family.

Kelsey Mann was scanning some old photos when he came to a series of pictures from his childhood birthdays and was struck by what he saw.

“I was 5, and it’s my birthday, and I’m sitting there in front of my cake … I think it was the smile and the joy on my face that made me stop,” says the director of “Inside Out 2.” “I’m like, ‘Wow, I am really enjoying the hell out of this moment.’ Then I turned 8, and my smile went down. I turned 11; it went down even further. Then 13, and I’m just staring at this cake, wishing I was anywhere but there.

“So I thought, ‘What the hell happened?’ ”

“Inside Out” had been a huge hit for Pixar in 2015. The comedy about 11-year-old Riley’s emotions, led by Joy, struggling to find balance within her grossed more than $850 million and won the animated feature Oscar. Naturally, with a sequel in mind, the studio’s writers had been continuing to learn how the mind works.

“A lot of us [were] doing the research of what goes on in the brain — suddenly, I — ‘Oh, I understand what I was doing,’ ” Mann says of the change in his photos. “This is the time when you become really self-conscious and compare yourself to others. … I hated the attention. I just wanted it to be over. So that feeling of not feeling good enough is where a lot of this began.”

“Welcome to Pixar,” says “Inside Out 2” co-writer Dave Holstein, to laughter from Mann and co-writer Meg LeFauve, over a video chat. “We start at the emotional core and we think, ‘What’s the saddest possible thing?’ ”

They laugh again, but this is the studio that traumatized us all with the opening sequence of “Up.” And for “Inside Out 2” — also nominally a comedy — they were steeped in one of the most terrifying circumstances: puberty. In the sequel, now-13-year-old Riley is doing great, playing hockey with good friends. Her now-united emotions, led by Joy (voiced again by Amy Poehler), are nurturing her developing Sense of Self. Then a whole squad of new emotions, powered by the frantic energy of Anxiety (Maya Hawke), arrives and throws everything off kilter.

Holstein says, “When Kelsey was discussing that seed of this idea, I think the question that came up for me was, ‘What happens to joy as we get older?’ ”

LeFauve says, “Perfectionism and anxiety taking over at that age is something that we could all relate to … [but] it also had to be fun. You want to be true and authentic to the research and human beings,” she says of wanting the film to be relevant to teenage girls like the ones in the story.

But with all the input from different places and the different plot threads involving Riley’s struggles to fit in at hockey camp, Anxiety’s misguided attempts to help, exiled Joy’s quest to return and restore balance and all the “balls in the air” and “three-dimensional chess,” as LeFauve puts it, Mann would keep coming back to the central idea: “ ‘What’s the story? This is about Joy.’ ”

“There’s a real ‘Inception’ quality to writing an emotional arc for an emotion inside someone else’s head while thinking about it in your head,” Holstein says with a chuckle. “So it is like three-dimensional chess, but played on a Chinese checkerboard during a game of Clue inside a dishwasher.

“The first movie, to me, was Joy discovering the power of Sadness,” Holstein adds. “And this movie, for me, had to be Joy discovering the power of Joy.”

They didn’t have to go far to find subjects for research. During COVID-19 closures, they got to see kids up close every day at home. But LeFauve didn’t even have to look that far to get started.

“I suffered from anxiety as a teenage girl,” she says. “So I was very much drawing from my own experience and how isolating that can be, especially in all the social things going on. As an adult, I found the solution of asking Anxiety to take a seat and to say, ‘I’m not going to die.’ ‘Give her a job.’ I do want teenagers to know you can ask anxiety to take a seat. It really does work. Give her a job. She needs a job. It’s not a piece of yourself you can cut out or get rid of. When I have my anxiety, I say, first, “Thank you. I know you’re trying to protect me.” She’s a part of me. She’s a part I need, but you can take a seat. I’m OK.”

LeFauve had other personal experience to rely on as well. “I have a son who has anxiety, so he would constantly be telling me about the projections of the future, and ‘What if?’ It helped to give him the clarity of, ‘But is that happening?’ It’s what Joy is saying in that sequence. So a lot of the sequences came from my experience as an anxious teen and adult and as a mom with an anxious teen.”

Often, the adults learned from the kids. Mann says his daughter’s leanings toward perfectionism have caused her some anxiety.

“A lot of what my daughter has been able to learn, I’ve been able to learn from and put in the movie — the whole panic-attack scene at the end,” he says. “[Riley’s] having one and starts to come down out of it; she’s using her senses in order to ground herself in the present. … It’s a technique I learned through my daughter.”

Holstein, who says he had a speech impediment as a boy, says that multiplicity of perspectives was key to the film’s success (“Inside Out 2” is the highest-grossing animated film ever, with nearly $1.7 billion worldwide, and holds a 90 positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes): “It works on two eyelines. The kid in me wanted to tell the story of that stuttering kid who got hold of his anxiety and the adult in me wanted to tell the story of not wanting to see the joy leave my 7-year-old son’s face after every birthday cake.”