title: Occupation of Japan

text: In 1953, journalist Ichirō Narumigi commented that Japan had received "liberation of sex" along with the "four presents" that it had been granted by the occupation (respect for human rights, gender equality, freedom of speech, and women's enfranchisement). Indeed, the occupation also had a great impact on relationships between men and women in Japan. The "modern girl" phenomenon of the 1920s and early 1930s had been characterized by greater sexual freedom, but despite this, sex was usually not perceived as a source of pleasure (for women) in Japan. Westerners, as a result, were thought to be promiscuous and sexually deviant. The sexual liberation of European and North American women during World War II was unthinkable in Japan, especially during wartime where rejection of Western ways of life was encouraged.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The Japanese public was thus astounded by the sight of some 45,000 so-called "pan pan girls" (prostitutes) fraternizing with American soldiers during the occupation. In 1946, the 200 wives of US officers landing in Japan to visit their husbands also had a similar impact when many of these reunited couples were seen walking hand in hand and kissing in public. Both prostitution and marks of affection had been hidden from the public until then, and this "democratization of eroticism" was a source of surprise, curiosity, and even envy. The occupation set new models for relationships between Japanese men and women: the western practice of "dating" spread, and activities such as dancing, movies and coffee were not limited to "pan pan girls" and American troops anymore, and became popular among young Japanese couples.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Unlike Allied-occupied Germany, the government of Japan continued to exist during the occupation. Although MacArthur's official staff history of the occupation referred to "the Eighth Army Military Government System", it explained that while "In Germany, with the collapse of the Nazi regime, all government agencies disintegrated, or had to be purged", the Japanese retained an "integrated, responsible government and it continued to function almost intact":


title: Occupation of Japan

text: The Japanese government's "de facto" authority was strictly limited at first, however, and senior figures in the government such as the Prime Minister effectively served at the pleasure of the occupation authorities before the first post-war elections were held. Political parties had begun to revive almost immediately after the occupation began. Left-wing organizations, such as the Japan Socialist Party and the Japan Communist Party, quickly reestablished themselves, as did various conservative parties. The old Seiyukai and Rikken Minseito came back as, respectively, the Liberal Party (Nihon Jiyuto) and the Japan Progressive Party (Nihon Shimpoto). The first postwar elections were held in 1946 (women were given the franchise for the first time), and the Liberal Party's vice president, Yoshida Shigeru (1878–1967), became prime minister. For the 1947 elections, anti-Yoshida forces left the Liberal Party and joined forces with the Progressive Party to establish the new Japan Democratic Party (Minshuto). This divisiveness in conservative ranks gave a plurality to the Japan Socialist Party, which was allowed to form a cabinet, which lasted less than a year. Thereafter, the socialist party steadily declined in its electoral successes. After a short period of Democratic Party administration, Yoshida returned in late 1948 and continued to serve as prime minister until 1954.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and surrendered on August 15, 1945. Over 5,000 Japanese Americans served in the occupation of Japan. Dozens of Japanese Americans served as translators, interpreters, and investigators in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Thomas Sakamoto served as press escort during the occupation of Japan. He escorted American correspondents to Hiroshima, and the USS "Missouri" in Tokyo Bay. Sakamoto was one of three Japanese Americans to be on board the USS "Missouri" when the Japanese formally surrendered. Arthur S. Komori served as personal interpreter for Brig. Gen. Elliot R. Thorpe. Kay Kitagawa served as personal interpreter of Fleet Admiral William Halsey Jr. Kan Tagami served as personal interpreter-aide for General Douglas MacArthur. Journalist Don Caswell was accompanied by a Japanese American interpreter to Fuchū Prison, where the Japanese government imprisoned communists Tokuda Kyuichi, Yoshio Shiga, and Shiro Mitamura.


title: Occupation of Japan

text: On the day the occupation of Japan was over, the "Asahi Shimbun" published a very critical essay on the occupation, calling it "almost akin to colonialism" and claiming it turned the Japanese population "irresponsible, obsequious and listless... unable to perceive issues in a forthright manner, which led to distorted perspectives".


title: Occupation of Japan

text: In later years, General MacArthur himself thought little of the Occupation. In June 1960, he was decorated by the Japanese government with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, the highest Japanese order which may be conferred on an individual who is not a head of state. In his statement upon receiving the honor, MacArthur expressed his "own firm disbelief in the usefulness of military occupations with their corresponding displacement of civil control."


title: Teófimo López

text: Teófimo Andrés López Rivera (born July 30, 1997) is an American professional boxer. He is a former unified lightweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 2019 to November 2021, and the WBA (Super), WBO, and "The Ring" magazine titles from October 2020 until November 2021. As an amateur, he represented Honduras at the 2016 Summer Olympics.


title: Teófimo López

text: As of June 2022, López is ranked as the world's Third best active lightweight by "The Ring" magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, Fourth by BoxRec and fifth by ESPN.


title: Teófimo López

text: López was born to Honduran immigrants on July 30, 1997 in Brooklyn, New York. His paternal grandfather, a Spaniard, was born in 1916 and emigrated to Honduras after the Second World War. His father, Teófimo López Sr. emigrated to Brooklyn with his mother at age 5. López Sr., started training his son at the age of 6, shortly after moving to Florida.


title: Teófimo López

text: López won the U.S. Olympic Trials but Carlos Balderas had already secured the United States' sole lightweight entry into the tournament as AIBA's World Series of Boxing champion, so López was aware entering the trials that at best he could only qualify as an alternate for Balderas (who lost in the Olympic quarterfinals). López was able to qualify for the Honduran team, where his parents are from, and reached the finals of the Olympic qualifying tournament for the Americas to earn his place in Rio. López also won the 2015 National Golden Gloves. López competed in the men's lightweight event at the 2016 Summer Olympics representing Honduras, where he was defeated in the tournament by eventual silver medalist Sofiane Oumiha.


title: Teófimo López

text: López signed with Top Rank in October 2016, and made his debut on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas fight in November of the same year. After compiling a perfect 10–0 record, he announced himself to the world stage in December 2018 by beating veteran Mason Menard with a knockout of the year candidate.


title: Teófimo López

text: In his next fight, López, already ranked #9 by the WBA, #11 by the WBC and #10 by the WBO, faced another boxing veteran in Diego Magdaleno, which ended in another brutal knockout win for López. He attracted some controversy after his exuberant celebration with Magdaleno still down on the canvas.


title: Teófimo López

text: López's winning streak continued, improving to 13–0 with a fifth-round knockout victory against former world title challenger Edis Tatli on April 20, 2019 on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Amir Khan at Madison Square Garden, New York City.


title: Teófimo López

text: On July 19, 2019, López who was ranked #4 by the IBF at the time, faced undefeated Masayoshi Nakatani, who was ranked #3, in a final eliminator for the IBF world lightweight title. In the fourth round, López knocked Nakatani down with his right hand, but the referee ruled it a slip. The fight marked the first time López had gone 12 rounds in his career, and he was awarded a unanimous decision victory with scores of 118–110, 118–110, 119–109, setting up a clash with IBF champion Richard Commey.


title: Teófimo López

text: On December 14, 2019, López challenged the IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey. López won the IBF title in spectacular fashion after connecting on Commey with a big right hand, and finishing him with a second-round technical knockout. After the conclusion of the fight, López was joined in the ring by fellow lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, with whom he took a photo with. When asked about his plans for his next fight and a possible unification bout with Lomachenko, López replied, "You guys know who I want," referring to Lomachenko without explicitly naming him.


title: Teófimo López

text: In September 2020, López agreed to fight unified WBA (Super), WBO, and "The Ring" champion, Vasiliy Lomachenko, on October 17 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It was the first major fight since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. With no live audience, López defied the odds with a stunning upset victory as he beat the highly-regarded Ukrainian by unanimous decision to unify the lightweight division and maintain his unbeaten record, with the judges' scorecards reading 116–112, 117–111 and 119–109. The first seven rounds saw López staying behind his jab and going to the body, with his opponent offering very little in response. In the second half, Lomachenko started coming out more offensively, landing more punches. However, in the final round, López landed 50 of 98 punches thrown (51%), the most an opponent has landed on Lomachenko in a round. According to CompuBox stats, Lomachenko landed 141 of 321 thrown (44%), while López landed 183 of 659 thrown (28%).


title: Teófimo López

text: López declined to give Lomachenko a rematch, explaining that “everybody [in Lomachenko’s camp] was being a dick to me, my father. He [Lomachenko] didn’t want to put a rematch clause in our contract." In the wake of his victory, López asserted that he is the undisputed lightweight champion, despite not holding the WBC belt. However, the claim was contested by many boxing analysts and fans, as the 'Franchise' version of the WBC title won by López against Lomachenko lacks recognition from a large portion of the boxing community, including Devin Haney, recognized by others as the holder of the legitimate WBC lightweight title.


title: Teófimo López

text: López's first defense of his unified lightweight championship had been scheduled for June 5, 2021 against undefeated contender George Kambosos Jr, before being delayed multiple times due to complications involving López testing positive for COVID-19, and disputes over the venue of the fight. The fight had gone to purse bids which was won by Triller with a winning bid of over US$6 million, leading to a fallout between López and Bob Arum, head promoter at Top Rank. On October 6, it transpired that the IBF had found Triller in default of its contract obligation to stage the fight, and that its rights would be awarded to the second highest bidder, Eddie Hearn's Matchroom, meaning that the fight will be shown live exclusively on the streaming service DAZN. Despite Kambosos entering the bout as a 13 to 1 pre-fight betting underdog, he knocked down the champion in the first round of the fight. Despite returning the favor by knocking down Kambosos in the tenth round, López ultimately lost the bout via split decision. One judge scored the bout 114–113 to López, while the other two judges scored it 115–112 and 115–111 for Kambosos Jr.


title: Teófimo López

text: On April 23, 2019, López married his wife Cynthia López, who is originally from Nicaragua. They first met on a Delta Air Lines flight from New York City to Las Vegas shortly after López's victorious 9th pro fight against Vitor Jones Freitas, on which Cynthia was a flight attendant. Shortly after marrying, they spent their honeymoon vacation in Greece.


title: Teófimo López

text: On February 12, 2021, López used his social media platforms to speak up about injustice and stand in support with victims of racial violence, issuing a message in support of Asian communities around the world in light of Lunar New Year and continued increasing anti-Asian racism in 2021.


title: Teófimo López

text: On June 15, 2021, López tested positive for COVID-19, leading to the postponement of his fight with George Kambosos Jr.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children's literature. He first appeared on 13 October 1958 in the children's book "A Bear Called Paddington" and has been featured in more than twenty books written by British author Michael Bond, and illustrated by Peggy Fortnum and other artists.


title: Paddington Bear

text: The friendly spectacled bear from "darkest Peru" – with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffel coat and love of marmalade – has become a classic character in children's literature. An anthropomorphised bear, Paddington is always polite – addressing people as "Mr", "Mrs" and "Miss" but rarely by first names – and kindhearted, though he inflicts hard stares on those who incur his disapproval. He has an endless capacity for innocently getting into trouble, but he is known to "try so hard to get things right". He was discovered in London Paddington station by the (human) Brown family who adopted him and gives his full name as "Paddington Brown," as his original name in bear language was too hard for them to pronounce.


title: Paddington Bear

text: One of the most beloved British fictional characters, a Paddington Bear soft toy was chosen by British tunnellers as the first item to pass through to their French counterparts when the two sides of the Channel Tunnel were linked in 1994. Paddington books have been translated into 30 languages across 70 titles and have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. As of June 2016, the Paddington Bear franchise was owned by Vivendi's StudioCanal. Bond, however, continued to own the publishing rights to his series, which was licensed to HarperCollins in April 2017.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington Bear has been adapted for television, films and commercials since its first appearance on the BBC in 1966. Television adaptations include "Paddington" broadcast from 1976 to 1980. The critically acclaimed and commercially successful films "Paddington" (2014) and "Paddington 2" (2017) were both nominated for the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Michael Bond based Paddington Bear on a lone teddy bear that he noticed on a shelf in a London shop near Paddington Station on Christmas Eve 1956, which he bought as a present for his wife. He was inspired by the sight, during World War II, of Jewish refugee children from Europe arriving in Britain and of London children being evacuated to the countryside, the evacuees bearing labels perhaps similar to that attached to the bear Paddington "Please look after this bear".


title: Paddington Bear

text: The bear inspired Bond to write a story and in ten days, he had written the first book. The book was given to his agent, Harvey Unna. "A Bear Called Paddington" was first published on 13 October 1958 by William Collins & Sons.


title: Paddington Bear

text: The first Paddington Bear stuffed toy to be manufactured was created in 1972 by Gabrielle Designs, a small family business run by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson, with the prototype made as a Christmas present for their children Joanna and Jeremy Clarkson, a now well-known British TV presenter and writer. Michael Bond had awarded the Clarksons the licensing of the toy rights throughout the world.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Shirley Clarkson dressed the stuffed bear in Wellington boots to help it stand upright. (Paddington received Wellingtons for Christmas in "Paddington Marches On", 1964.) The earliest bears wore small children's boots manufactured by Dunlop Rubber until production could not meet demand. Gabrielle Designs then produced their boots with paw prints moulded into the soles.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Shirley Clarkson's book describes the evolution of the toy Paddington from Christmas gift to subject of litigation and ultimately commercial success. The family eventually sold the rights to Britain's then leading toy store, Hamleys.


title: Paddington Bear

text: In the first story, the middle-class Brown family found Paddington at Paddington railway station in London. Paddington was sitting on his suitcase with a note attached to his coat that read "Please look after this bear. Thank you." Bond has said that his memories of newsreels showing trainloads of child evacuees leaving London during World War II, with labels around their necks and their possessions in small suitcases, prompted him to do the same for Paddington.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington arrives as a stowaway coming from "Darkest Peru," sent by his Aunt Lucy, one of only a few known relatives aside from an Uncle Pastuzo who gave Paddington his hat, who has gone to live in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima. He claims, "I came in a lifeboat, and ate marmalade. Bears like marmalade." He tells them that no-one can understand his Peruvian name, so the Browns decide to call him Paddington after the railway station in which he was found.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Bond originally wanted Paddington to have "travelled from darkest Africa," but his agent advised him that there were no bears in Africa, and thus it was amended to Peru, home of the spectacled bear.


title: Paddington Bear

text: The Browns take Paddington home to 32 Windsor Gardens near Notting Hill. While there is a real Windsor Gardens off Harrow Road between Notting Hill and Maida Vale, close to the location as described in the books, the Windsor Gardens in the book is fictitious and does not resemble the real road.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington frequents the nearby Portobello Road market, where he is respected by the shopkeepers for driving a hard bargain.


title: Paddington Bear

text: When he gets annoyed with someone, he often gives them one of his special "hard stares", taught to him by Aunt Lucy, which causes them to become flushed and embarrassed. Paddington's adventures usually arise from him misunderstanding something and trying to right (what he perceives to be) unfair or unjust situations. This typically ends with him messing things up in some way. But in all his adventures, he ends up on top and everyone involved can laugh about it. A notable exception is the Browns' next-door neighbour Mr Curry who in every adventure ends up in trouble.


title: Paddington Bear

text: The stories follow Paddington's adventures and mishaps in England, along with some snippets of information about his past. For instance, one story reveals that Paddington was orphaned in an earthquake, before being taken in and raised by his Aunt Lucy.


title: Paddington Bear

text: There is a recurring cast of characters, all of whom are in some way entangled in Paddington's misadventures. These include:


title: Paddington Bear

text: The first book, "A Bear Called Paddington", was published in 1958. Although the books are divided into chapters and each book has a time frame, the stories all work as stand-alone stories, and many of them were used like this in the TV series. In order of publication the titles are:


title: Paddington Bear

text: This picture book is the finale of the original Paddington series.<br>It was finished before Michael Bond's death. The final book in the "Paddington" series to be written by the creator himself was released on 27 June 2018 to mark the anniversary of the day that Michael Bond died and the 60th anniversary of "A Bear Called Paddington" (1958).


title: Paddington Bear

text: Author Michael Bond was also a BBC TV cameraman who worked on the popular children's television programme "Blue Peter". After this was revealed in 1965, a special Paddington story, in which he got mixed up in the programme itself, appeared in the "Blue Peter Annuals" for many years. They were collected in the novel-length "Paddington's Blue Peter Story Book" in 1973. A second book based around "Blue Peter" was titled "Paddington on Screen".


title: Paddington Bear

text: The first TV adaptation of Paddington was a serialised reading of "The Adventures of Paddington Bear" by Thora Hird for "Jackanory" in 1966. The 15-minute episodes were broadcast over five afternoons from 14 March 1966. No episodes survive in the BBC archives.


title: Paddington Bear

text: ITV's answer to Jackanory was "Once Upon a Time", which featured three readings by Ian Carmichael in 1968 and a fourth in 1970. The episodes do not survive in the ITV archives.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Christmas Eve 1970 saw a reading of "Paddington's Christmas" by John Bird. The episode no longer exists in the BBC archives.


title: Paddington Bear

text: One of the best-known adaptations of Paddington Bear is the stop-motion animated BBC television series "Paddington." The series was written by Michael Bond and directed and animated by Ivor Wood at London-based animation company FilmFair (now WildBrain). It was first broadcast on 5 January 1976. The storylines were based on comedic incidents from the books, chosen to appeal to the TV audience which included much younger children than those the books were written for.


title: Paddington Bear

text: This series had an extremely distinctive appearance: Paddington was a stop-motion puppet moving in a three-dimensional space in front of gloomy two-dimensional backgrounds, which were frequently sparse black-and-white line drawings, while all other characters were 2D drawings. In one scene, Mr Brown is seen to hand Paddington a jar of marmalade that becomes 3D when Paddington touches it. Animator Ivor Wood also worked on "The Magic Roundabout", "The Wombles" and "Postman Pat". The series was narrated by Michael Hordern, who also voiced all of the characters.


title: Paddington Bear

text: In the U.S., episodes aired on PBS, on the syndicated series "Romper Room", on Nickelodeon as a segment on the programme "Pinwheel" and on USA Network as a segment on the "Calliope" (TV series) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as in between preschool programming on The Disney Channel as a segment on the program "Lunch Box" from the late 1980s into the 1990s. The series also aired on HBO in between features, usually when they were airing children's programmes. The series won a silver medal at the New York Film and Television Festival in 1979, the first British animated series to do so.


title: Paddington Bear

text: In 2011, Mill Creek Entertainment under the licence of Cookie Jar Entertainment released the complete original 1975 "Paddington Bear" series on DVD. The 3-disc set also featured three half-hour television specials, "Paddington Birthday Bonanza", "Paddington Goes To School" and "Paddington Goes to the Movies" along with 15 bonus episodes of "The Wombles" and "Huxley Pig". It also had special features for children on DVD-ROM.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington Bear's 1989 television series was the first by a North American company, Hanna-Barbera, a co-production with Central Independent Television. This series was traditional two-dimensional animation and featured veteran voice actor Charlie Adler as Paddington and Tim Curry, fittingly enough, as Mr Curry. The character of an American boy named David, Jonathan and Judy Brown's cousin who arrived in London on the same day as Paddington, was added to the stories in the 1989 cartoon.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Canadian Cinar Films produced the third series, which was first broadcast in 1997 and consisted of traditional two-dimensional colour animation. The show was called "The Adventures of Paddington Bear".


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington appeared along with other British children's literature characters in the televised broadcast of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday party event held in the Garden at Buckingham Palace on 25 June 2006. He has a part in "The Queen's Handbag" pantomime where he and Rupert Bear are recruited by Percy the Park Keeper to find the handbag alongside Winnie-the-Pooh, Kipper the Dog, Spot the Dog, Mowgli from "The Jungle Book" and The White Rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland".


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington Bear appeared in "The Official BBC Children in Need Medley" with Peter Kay along with several other animated characters, which included popular British children's TV characters Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, "Teletubbies", Peppa Pig and "Thunderbirds". The single's cover art is a parody of the cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles. In the music video (which features the Animated All Star Band meeting and recording the song in a studio, spoofing other charity songs in the style of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?") Paddington makes a grand appearance by winking at the cameramen when they take photos of him; Kay's character Big Chris tries to put a cloak on Paddington, but it keeps sliding off. He also joins the rest of the group for the final act. The song reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Paddington Bear

text: StudioCanal made a computer-animated TV series based on the live-action Paddington films. The studio teamed with David Heyman and US Nickelodeon to make the series with animation studio Blue-Zoo, with the working title of "Paddington" and Ben Whishaw reprising the role from the two live-action films. The series officially made its debut on 20 December 2019.


title: Paddington Bear

text: In September 2007, Warner Bros. and producer David Heyman announced a film adaptation of Paddington Bear. Hamish McColl, who penned "Mr. Bean's Holiday", would write the script. The film would not be an adaptation of an existing story, but "draw inspiration from the whole series" and feature a computer animated Paddington Bear interacting with a live-action environment. Colin Firth had been announced to voice Paddington, however he announced his withdrawal on 17 June 2014, saying: "It's been bittersweet to see this delightful creature take shape and come to the sad realization that he simply doesn't have my voice". In July 2014, it was announced that Ben Whishaw had replaced Firth.


title: Paddington Bear

text: On 25 June 2012, an official teaser poster was released for "Paddington", stating that it would be released during 2014. A trailer was subsequently released confirming the release to be 28 November 2014. On 17 November 2014, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the film a PG certificate and advised parents that the film contained "dangerous behaviour, mild threat, mild sex references, [and] mild bad language". Paul King, the film's director, told BBC reporter Tim Muffett: "I'm not surprised about that [the PG certificate] but I don't think it's a PG for sexiness. That I would find very odd". Paddington's creator, Michael Bond, said he was "totally amazed" at the BBFC's advice. After the film's distributor challenged the certification, the BBFC revised the wording of its parental guidance, replacing "mild sex references" with "innuendo". It also further qualified the "mild bad language" as "infrequent", saying it referred to "a single mumbled use of 'bloody'".


title: Paddington Bear

text: To celebrate the release of the film, the Paddington Trail was launched. From 4 November until 30 December 2014, 50 Paddington statues were placed around London close to museums, parks, shops and key landmarks. The statues have been created by artists, designers and celebrities, including supermodel Kate Moss, actresses Nicole Kidman and Emma Watson, footballer David Beckham, and actors Benedict Cumberbatch and "Downton Abbey" star Hugh Bonneville. As the lead charity partner of The Paddington Trail, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) held an online auction in November and a live auction in December for the statues, with all proceeds from the sale going to the charity.


title: Paddington Bear

text: During 2015, it was announced that the studio was in talks with the producer about a sequel. The sequel, titled "Paddington 2", was released on 10 November 2017 in the UK to universal acclaim. The mantra from the film, "If we're kind and polite, the world will be right", was taught to Paddington by his beloved Aunt Lucy in times of both duress and joy. New cast members included Hugh Grant as Phoenix Buchanan, a narcissistic actor and former West End theatre star, reduced to making adverts for dog food, and Brendan Gleeson as Knuckles McGinty, the short-tempered prison cook. On 18 January 2018, it became the most-reviewed film ever to remain at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 164 positive reviews, beating "Toy Story 2", which had 163 positive reviews at the time.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Comedian and later President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky voiced Paddington in the Ukrainian dubbing of the films "Paddington" (2014) and "Paddington 2" (2017). Upon hearing of this, Hugh Bonneville, who played Henry Brown in both films, tweeted "Thank you, President Zelensky".


title: Paddington Bear

text: The 2014 film "Paddington" was well received. It won several nominations and awards, including Best British Feature Film Writing at the British Screenwriters’ Awards, Best Comedy at the Empire Awards, and Best Screenplay at the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. The film received nominations at the 68th British Academy Film Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay as well as Best British Film at the Empire Awards, Best Fantasy Film at the Saturn Award, and Best Male Lead Vocal Performance in a Feature Film at the BTVA Feature Film Voice Acting Awards.


title: Paddington Bear

text: The 2017 sequel "Paddington 2" received even more nominations and awards. It was nominated for Outstanding British Film of the Year, Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Grant), and Best Screenplay at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards. In addition, it won Support Actor of the Year and British/Irish Actress of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards. Likewise, the film received 50 nominations including for Best Costume Design and Best Visual Effects at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards and Best Art Direction/ Production Design at the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington Bear is among the most popular characters in children's literature. The actor Stephen Fry, who narrated Paddington audiobooks, stated "Michael Bond's bear is a Great British icon with his charm, humour, spirit of adventure and generosity". Devan Coggan writing for "Entertainment Weekly" saw a similarity between Paddington and Winnie-the-Pooh, referring to them as two "extremely polite British bears without pants", adding that "both bears share a philosophy of kindness and integrity".


title: Paddington Bear

text: "The New York Times" praised the original book "A Bear Called Paddington" (1958). Similarly, "The Horn Book Guide", a bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature, praised the short story "Paddington Helps Out" (1960). Both articles emphasise the welcoming Brown family and how the book captures Paddington's adventurous, charming, and funny attitude. Further, "The New York Times"' article highlights the resemblance of Paddington to a child, indicating that 6 to 9 year olds could enjoy both the colourful illustrations and the book's content.


title: Paddington Bear

text: In 2021, the British Library hosted an exhibition on Paddington Bear. "The Telegraph" journalist Claire Allfree acknowledges Paddington's difficulty as an immigrant to integrate into British culture. For example, that "children should practise their own hard stares and to imagine what objects they might take with them on their long journey." Scholars Angela Smith, Kyle Grayson and Lisa Dussenberry additionally discuss the role of Otherness in the Paddington series. Smith writes that though children will be able to subtly learn the complex political and psychological issues of migration, Paddington nonetheless enforces assimilation to the dominant culture. Grayson posits that even with specific negotiations of differences, Paddington remains in a precarious position in society. On a positive tone about Paddington's immigration theme, Dussenberry appreciates how Mr. Gruber, a Hungarian immigrant and Paddington's friend, supports and guides Paddington with his adjustment into the new society.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Cadbury launched a Paddington Bear branded chocolate bar in 1977. Paddington was featured on the Royal Mail 1st class stamp in the Animal Tales series released on 10 January 2006 and had previously been featured on one of the 1st class Greetings Messages stamps, released by Royal Mail on 1 February 1994.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington Bear featured in the Marmite television advertisement (first broadcast in the UK on 13 September 2007), in which he tries a marmite and cheese sandwich instead of his traditional marmalade sandwich.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Paddington Bear audiobooks have been read by a number of celebrities. In 2007, Stephen Fry narrated the audiobook "More About Paddington" (1959), and in 2008 he received the Audie Award for Young Listeners' Title from the Audio Publishers Association in the U.S.


title: Paddington Bear

text: On 13 October 2008, Google celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Paddington publication by placing an image of the travelling bear with a sign showing Peru and London incorporated into Google's logo.


title: Paddington Bear

text: In 2010, Paddington Bear was first used in marketing for Robertson's, appearing on the jars of their Golden Shred marmalade. In November 2014, a balloon with Paddington Bear was introduced in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.


title: Paddington Bear

text: A song about Paddington Bear, "Shine" was released on 13 January 2015 by Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, to coincide with the U.S. release of "Paddington".


title: Paddington Bear

text: As part of the promotion of film and to celebrate cross-cultural links between the UK and Peru, the British Embassy and StudioCanal commissioned a statue of Paddington in Parque Salazar in the Miraflores district of the Peruvian capital, Lima, which was unveiled in July 2015.


title: Paddington Bear

text: The 2017 Marks & Spencer Christmas advertisement for television shows Paddington mistaking a petty criminal for Santa Claus and helping him right the wrong by returning the gifts to their rightful owners.


title: Paddington Bear

text: Marking the 60th anniversary of the publication of the first Paddington children's book, in 2018 an image of Paddington Bear (sitting at Paddington station) appeared on 50p coins in the UK. His creator Michael Bond was the second author to have their character feature on the coin after Beatrix Potter whose literary creation Peter Rabbit appeared two years earlier.


title: Paddington Bear

text: In the 2022 film "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent", "Paddington 2" was referenced when the characters Javi (Pedro Pascal) and Nicolas Cage (Nicolas Cage) were discussing their favourite movies. When asked why "Paddington 2" was referred to, director Tom Gormican said "It's a perfect movie...we were big fans" and Cage described it as "wonderful".


title: Paddington Bear

text: In a pre-recorded comedy segment at the opening of the Platinum Party at the Palace on 4 June 2022, Paddington joined Queen Elizabeth II for tea and marmalade sandwiches at Buckingham Palace before they tapped their tea cups to the beat of "We Will Rock You", prior to Queen + Adam Lambert performing the song outside live. During their meeting, the Queen reveals to Paddington that she too always keeps a marmalade sandwich for emergencies, in her handbag. The video would turn out to be one of the last public appearances of Elizabeth II before her death on 8 September 2022, and as a result Paddington Bear became a symbol of mourning for the Queen. An image of Paddington and the Queen walking hand-in-hand was widely shared and re-printed, mourners left stuffed Paddington Bears and marmalade sandwiches at memorials, and the BBC announced that both "Paddington" films would air on the weekend of the funeral.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk (; born February 21, 1962) is an American freelance journalist and novelist who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two adult coloring books, as well as several short stories. His first published novel was "Fight Club", which was adapted into a film of the same title.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Palahniuk was born in Pasco, Washington, the son of Carol Adele (née Tallent) and Fred Palahniuk. He has French and Ukrainian ancestry. His paternal grandfather migrated from Ukraine to Canada and then to New York in 1907. Palahniuk grew up living in a mobile home in Burbank, Washington. His parents separated when he was 14 years old, and they subsequently divorced, often leaving him and his three siblings to live with their maternal grandparents at their cattle ranch in eastern Washington. Palahniuk acknowledged in a 2007 interview that he is a distant nephew of actor Jack Palance, and that his family had talked of distant relations with Palance. Palahniuk attended the University of Oregon in his 20s, graduating in journalism in 1986. He interned at the local public radio station, KLCC, as part of his coursework.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: He wrote for the local newspaper for a short while but then began working for Freightliner Trucks as a diesel mechanic, continuing until his writing career took off. During that time, he wrote manuals on fixing trucks and had a stint as a journalist, a job to which he did not return until after he became a successful novelist. After casually attending a seminar by Landmark Education, Palahniuk quit his job as a journalist in 1988. He performed volunteer work for a homeless shelter and volunteered at a hospice as an escort, providing transportation for terminally ill people, taking them to support group meetings. He ceased volunteering upon the death of a patient to whom he had grown attached.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Palahniuk began writing fiction in his mid-30s. By his account, he started writing while attending workshops for writers that were hosted by Tom Spanbauer, which he attended to meet new friends. Spanbauer largely inspired Palahniuk's minimalistic writing style.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: After his first novel, "Invisible Monsters", was rejected by all publishers he submitted it to, he began work on his first published novel, "Fight Club". Palahniuk wrote this story in his spare time while working for Freightliner. After initially publishing it as a short story (which became chapter 6 of the novel) in the 1995 compilation "Pursuit of Happiness", Palahniuk expanded it into a full novel, which, contrary to his expectations, a publisher accepted. While the original hardcover edition of the book received positive reviews and some awards, it had a short shelf life.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Initially, Palahniuk struggled to find a literary agent and went without one until after the publication of "Fight Club". After he began receiving attention from 20th Century Fox, Palahniuk was signed by actor and literary agent, Edward Hibbert. Hibbert eventually guided and brokered the deal that took "Fight Club" to the big screen. In 1999, the film adaptation by director David Fincher was released. The film was a box office disappointment (although it was No. 1 at the U.S. box office in its first weekend) and critical reaction was mixed, but a cult following soon emerged as the DVD of the film became popular upon release. Three editions of the novel have been published in paperback, in 1999, in 2004 (with a new introduction by the author about the success of the film adaptation), and in 2005 (with an afterword by Palahniuk).


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: A revised version of "Invisible Monsters", as well as his fourth novel, "Survivor", were published in 1999. A few years later Palahniuk managed to make his first "New York Times" bestseller, the novel "Choke", which later was made into a movie.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: The year 1999 brought a series of great personal tragedies to Palahniuk's life. At that time, his father, Fred Palahniuk, had started dating a woman named Donna Fontaine, whom he had met through a personal ad under the title "Kismet". Her former boyfriend, Dale Shackelford, had previously been imprisoned for sexual abuse and had vowed to kill Fontaine as soon as he was released from prison. Palahniuk believes that, using a personal ad, Fontaine was looking for "the biggest man she could find" to protect her from Shackelford, and Palahniuk's father qualified. After his release, Shackelford followed Fontaine and the senior Palahniuk to Fontaine's home in Kendrick, Idaho, after they had gone out for a date. Shackelford then shot them both and dragged their bodies into Fontaine's cabin home, which he then set alight. In the spring of 2001, Shackelford was found guilty for two counts of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. In the wake of these events, Palahniuk began working on the novel "Lullaby". He has stated that he wrote the novel to help him cope with having participated in the decision to have Shackelford receive the death sentence.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: While on his 2003 tour to promote his novel, "Diary", Palahniuk read to his audiences a short story entitled "Guts", a sensational tale of accidents involving masturbation, which appears in his book, "Haunted". The story begins with the author telling his listeners to inhale deeply and that "this story should last about as long as you can hold your breath." It was reported that 40 people had fainted listening to the readings while holding their breath. "Playboy" magazine later published the story in their March 2004 issue and Palahniuk offered to let them publish another story along with it, but the publishers found the second work too disturbing to publish. On his tour to promote "" during the summer of 2004, he read "Guts" to audiences again, bringing the total number of fainters up to 53 (and later up to 60 while on tour to promote the softcover edition of "Diary"). In the fall of that year, he began promoting "Haunted", and continued to read "Guts". In June 2005, Palahniuk noted that his number of fainters was up to 67. The last fainting occurred on May 28, 2007, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where five people fainted, one of whom fell and hit his head on the door while trying to leave the auditorium. Since then audio recordings of his readings of the story have been circulated on the Internet. In the afterword of the latest edition of "Haunted", Palahniuk reported that "Guts" had been responsible for 73 fainting events.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: At a 2005 appearance in Miami, Florida, during the "Haunted" tour, Palahniuk commented that "Haunted" represented the last of a "horror trilogy" (including "Lullaby" and "Diary"). He also indicated that his then-forthcoming novel, "Rant", would be the first of a "science fiction trilogy".


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: In 2008, Palahniuk spent a week at the Clarion West Writers Workshop, instructing eighteen students about his writing methods and theory of fiction.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: In addition to the film, "Fight Club" was adapted into a fighting video game loosely based on the film, which was released in October 2004, receiving poor reviews universally. Palahniuk has mentioned at book readings that he is working on a musical based on "Fight Club" with David Fincher and Trent Reznor. Edward Norton has said that he thinks it is unlikely that he and Brad Pitt, who "can't sing," would reprise their film roles in a musical.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Graphic novel adaptations of "Invisible Monsters" and "Lullaby", drawn by comic artist, Kissgz, a.k.a. Gabor, are available online.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Following the success of the movie of "Fight Club", interest began to build about adapting "Survivor" to film. The film rights to "Survivor" were sold in early 2001, but no movie studio had committed to filming the novel. After the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, movie studios apparently deemed the novel too controversial to film because it includes the hijacking and crashing of a civilian airplane. In mid-2004, however, 20th Century Fox committed to adapting Palahniuk's novel. Palahniuk has said that the same people who made the film "Constantine" will be working on this film.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Following that, the film rights to "Invisible Monsters" and "Diary" also were sold. While little is known about some of these projects, it is known that Jessica Biel was signed on to play the roles of both Shannon and Brandy in "Invisible Monsters", which was supposed to begin filming in 2004, but was still in development.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: On January 14, 2008, the film version of "Choke" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, starring Sam Rockwell, Kelly Macdonald and Anjelica Huston with Clark Gregg directing. David Fincher expressed interest in filming "Diary" as an HBO miniseries.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: On September 11, 2014, the film version of "Rant" was announced, starring James Franco, with Pamela Romanowsky writing and directing.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: The narratives of Palahniuk's books often are structured in medias res, starting at the temporal end, with the protagonist recounting the events that led up to the point at which the book begins. "Lullaby" used a variation of this, alternating between the normal, linear narrative and the temporal end, after every few chapters. Exceptions to this narrative form, however, include the more linear "Choke" and "Diary". Often a major plot twist exists that is revealed near the end of the book, which relates in some way to this temporal end (what Palahniuk refers to as "the hidden gun"). His more linear works also include similar plot twists.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Palahniuk says that his writing style has been influenced by authors such as the minimalist Tom Spanbauer (whose weekly workshop Palahniuk attended in Portland from 1991 to 1996), Amy Hempel, Mark Richard, Denis Johnson, Thom Jones, Bret Easton Ellis and philosophers Michel Foucault, Friedrich Nietzsche and Albert Camus. In what the author refers to as a minimalistic approach, his writings include a limited vocabulary and short sentences to mimic the way that an average person telling a story would speak. In an interview, he said that he "prefers to write in verbs instead of adjectives." Repetitions of certain lines or phrases in the story narrative (what Palahniuk refers to as "choruses") are one of the most common characteristics of his writing style, being dispersed within most chapters of his novels. Palahniuk has said that there also are some choruses between novels, noting that the color cornflower blue and the city of Missoula, Montana appear in many of his novels. The characters in Palahniuk's stories often break into philosophical asides (either by the narrator to the reader, or spoken to the narrator through dialogue), offering numerous odd theories and opinions, often misanthropic or darkly absurdist in nature, on complex issues such as death, morality, childhood, parenthood, sexuality, and a deity. Other concepts borrowed from Spanbauer include the avoidance of "received text" (clichéd phrases or wording) and use of "burnt tongue" (intentionally odd wording).


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Palahniuk's rewriting process is also its own style. In an interview with Jason Tanamor, he said, "It’s pathetic how much I rewrite. I’ll rework every scene a hundred times before my agent sees it. Then rework it a dozen times before my editor sees it. Then rework it all - almost beyond recognition - before it goes to the copy editor. My first draft is almost a bare-bones outline, fleshed out with every subsequent pass through. I’ll “test” the scenes in workshop and with friends, then revise them based on audience reaction and feedback. The only time a book is “done” is when the type is set. By then I'm in love with a new idea, so the old one is officially finished."


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: When not writing fiction, Palahniuk tends to write short non-fiction works. Working as a freelance journalist, he writes essays and reports on a variety of subjects. He sometimes participates in the events about which he writes, which are heavy in field research. He also has written interviews with celebrities, namely, Juliette Lewis and Marilyn Manson. These works appear in various magazines and newspapers, such as the "Los Angeles Times" and "Gear" magazine. Some of these writings have shown up in his book, "Stranger than Fiction: True Stories". Palahniuk also includes some non-fiction factoids within his fictional works and according to the author, these are included to further immerse the reader in his work.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Palahniuk's books prior to "Lullaby" have distinct similarities. The characters are people who have been marginalized in one way or another by society, and often react with self-destructive aggressiveness. He labels these stories as transgressional fiction. Beginning with "Lullaby", the style of his novels changed to mostly satirical horror stories.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Palahniuk's writing often contains anti-consumerist themes. Writing about "Fight Club", Paul Kennett argues that because the Narrator's fights with Tyler Durden are fights with himself, and because he fights himself in front of his boss at the hotel, the Narrator is using the fights as a way of asserting himself as his own boss. These fights are a representation of the struggle of the proletarian at the hands of a higher capitalist power; by asserting himself as capable of having the same power he thus becomes his own master. Later when fight club is formed, the participants are all dressed and groomed similarly, allowing them to symbolically fight themselves at the club and gain the same power. In an interview with "HuffPost", Palahniuk says that "the central message of "Fight Club" was always about the empowerment of the individual through small, escalating challenges."


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: The content of Palahniuk's works has been described as nihilistic. Palahniuk has rejected this label, stating that he is a romantic, and that his works are mistakenly seen as nihilistic because they express ideas that others do not believe in.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: As an adult, Palahniuk became a member of the rebellious Cacophony Society. He is a regular participant in their events, including the annual Santa Rampage (a public Christmas party involving pranks and drunkenness) in Portland, Oregon. His participation in the Society inspired some of the events in his writings, both fictional and non-fictional.


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: Palahniuk came out as gay after an interview with Karen Valby, a reporter for "Entertainment Weekly". Believing that he would be "outed" by Valby after confidentially referring to his male partner, he openly declared his homosexuality on his website. According to an interview with "The Advocate" in May 2008, he and his unnamed male partner live in a former church compound outside Vancouver, Washington. He and his partner have been together since the 1990s, having met while Palahniuk was working at Freightliner. He told one interviewer, "We both had these very blue-collar lives, and now our lives are completely different."


title: Chuck Palahniuk

text: He was nominated for the 1999 Oregon Book Award for Best Novel for "Survivor" and for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel for "Lullaby" in 2002 and for "Haunted" in 2005.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Cherry is a 2021 American crime drama film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg, based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Nico Walker. It stars Tom Holland as the titular character, alongside Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli, and Jeff Wahlberg. The film follows the life of a man, from a college student to a PTSD-afflicted veteran who robs banks to pay for his and his wife's drug addiction.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: "Cherry" was released in theaters on February 26, 2021, and was released digitally on March 12, 2021, on Apple TV+. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Holland and Bravo's performances but criticized its direction, tonal inconsistency and screenplay.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: College student Cherry falls in love at first sight with his classmate Emily. Their relationship blossoms but Emily decides to leave him and study in Montreal. Cherry is devastated and enlists in the Army as a medic to escape his heartbreak. Just before he is about to leave for basic training, Emily realizes her mistake and confesses she is in love with Cherry too and that they are meant for one another. Cherry and Emily marry before his deployment.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: During his two year service in the Army, Cherry suffers from PTSD after having several horrific experiences, including seeing his friend, Jimenez, burnt and killed from an IED. To cope with his panic attacks and severe anxiety when he comes home, he abuses OxyContin, prescribed from a doctor helping to decrease his PTSD symptoms. His growing addiction begins to frustrate Emily and as a result, she begins taking Cherry's medication to deal with her own frustration of not knowing how to support him without drugs and the two soon become addicted to OxyContin, and eventually heroin.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: After they break into a safe that he was looking after for his drug dealer, Pills and Coke, he and Emily use most of the drugs secured inside for themselves. Some time later, Pills and Coke visits and sees the empty safe. Cherry learns that his drug dealer's boss, Black, is the owner of the safe and will kill all three of them for this. To get the money for the drugs they used, Cherry robs a bank and pays back the money. As a result of their daily heroin use, Cherry continues to rob banks frequently after he and Emily go through severe withdrawals. Emily overdoses and almost dies in a hospital. Cherry is blamed and forced by Emily's mother to leave her alone.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Emily leaves her drug rehabilitation facility and reunites with Cherry. He tries to send her back and persuade her that he is no good for her. Emily does not care and tells Cherry she wants to be with him; she will get high on drugs again no matter what. Needing more money to support their addiction, he enlists Pills and Coke and his friend, James Lightfoot, to help him rob multiple tellers at once. During a robbery, the drug dealer runs away, forcing Cherry to rob the bank alone. As he drives away with Lightfoot in a getaway car, Cherry stresses that Pills and Coke will likely rat him out if he gets caught and convinces Lightfoot to turn the car around and search for him. After putting Pills and Coke in the car, he sees that he has been shot and is severely bleeding. They debate whether to take him to the hospital, but decide it is too risky, and he dies from his gunshot wound. They dump the body on the side of the road and part ways.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Black later confronts Cherry outside his home to settle the drug debt. Cherry kisses and says goodbye to Emily before performing one last robbery. During the robbery, Cherry persuades the bank teller to set off the alarm before he leaves with the money. Cherry gives Black all of the money. Cherry then walks out to the open road and gets the attention of the police by firing his gun in the air, proceeding to sit by the side of the road and get high one last time, before police arrive and arrest him.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Cherry detoxes and recovers in prison, spending 14 years serving his sentence before being released on parole. As Cherry makes his way out of the prison, he sees Emily waiting for him.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Anthony and Joe Russo's production company AGBO purchased the production rights to the novel in August 2018, beating out offers from Warner Bros., which would've had James Franco directing, and Sony, with the Russos set to direct the film. In March 2019, Tom Holland entered talks to star in the film. Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Jeff Wahlberg, Kyle Harvey, Forrest Goodluck and Michael Gandolfini were added to the cast in October. Pooch Hall would be cast in an undisclosed role in December.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Filming was initially reported to begin on July 15, 2019. The filmmakers had plans to shoot the film in Ohio, the setting of the novel and homestate of the Russo brothers, but due to the Greater Cleveland Film Commission's proposed changes in tax incentives were forced to move the planned shooting to California. However, the proposed figures were lowered from $100 million to $40 million, and production returned to the state. Because of this, filming did not begin until October 8, 2019 and concluded in February 2020. The movie was filmed mostly in Cleveland, Ohio. The lead actor, Tom Holland, was spotted in Cleveland’s Gordon Square neighborhood in November 2019. On Detroit Avenue, some scenes were filmed inside the Subway, after which Holland was seen hurrying outside for some exterior shots. In the morning, the crew had shot several scenes inside the Pioneer Savings Bank, where they probably filmed one of the robberies. Some important shots were also taken at Case Western Reserve University, the top-ranked private research university in Cleveland.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Although Cleveland is an important shooting location, the filming was not limited to it. In Lorain, filming for ‘Cherry’ was done at Broadway Avenue and on East 20th Street (just east of Broadway). In Marion, prison scenes were filmed at the North Central Correctional Complex in Marion County, a high-security prison for men. The crew also filmed a few scenes in Bedford, at St. Peter Chanel High School, before it was demolished. The Russo brothers even tweeted about it being the high school where their father obtained his education. In Parma, Ohio scenes were filmed along Ridge Rd. in the old First Merit Bank location and across the street at Mack's Beverage. According to the Russo brothers, editing for "Cherry" took place as it was filmed to allow them to see what they were missing, and if they needed to "rewrite or reshoot" parts of the film.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: The film score for "Cherry" was composed by Henry Jackman, and was released by Lakeshore Records on February 26, 2021, via Apple Music.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Apple TV+ acquired distribution rights to the film in September 2020 for around $40 million. The film was theatrically released on February 26, 2021 and was released on Apple TV+ on March 12, 2021.


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 37% of 213 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.20/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "It's certainly stylish and it offers Tom Holland a welcome opportunity to branch out, but "Cherry"s woes stem from a story that's too formulaic to bowl anyone over." According to Metacritic, which assigned the film a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Writing for "IndieWire", David Ehrlich gave the film a grade of D and said, "...directors Anthony and Joe Russo paid [author Nico Walker] $1 million dollars for the film rights and turned it into their first post-"" production. Suffering through the Russo brothers' scuzzy, interminable, and misjudged adaptation of Walker's life story, there's no question who got the better end of that deal."


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" said: "There's hardly a moment in "Cherry" that's believable, but the film's true crime is that there's hardly a moment in it that's enjoyable either. The only emotion the movie conveys is being full of itself," and later named it the worst film of 2021. "The Hollywood Reporter"s David Rooney called the film "way overripe" and wrote: "Walker's story no doubt is grounded in a very real milieu that reflects the grim existence of countless Americans returning from active duty to a country blighted by economic downturn, shrinking opportunity and substance abuse. But the only reality "Cherry" reflects with numbing insistence is that of co-directors getting high on their own high style."


title: Cherry (2021 film)

text: Matt Gallagher of "The Intercept" wrote that both the film and the book it was based upon have been criticized for erasing the actual victims of the crime, such as the bank teller whom Walker allegedly threatened to kill.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Bajirao Mastani is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language epic historical romance film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who co-produced it with Eros International and composed its soundtrack. The film stars Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra with Tanvi Azmi, Vaibhav Tatwawaadi, Milind Soman, Mahesh Manjrekar and Aditya Pancholi in supporting roles. Based on Nagnath S. Inamdar's Marathi novel "Rau", "Bajirao Mastani" narrates the story of the Maratha "Peshwa" Bajirao I (1700–1740 AD) and his second wife, Mastani.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Conceived as early as the 1990s, Bhansali announced the film in 2003 but production was delayed several times due to its changing cast. "Bajirao Mastani", a passion project for Bhansali, spent the next eleven twelve years in development hell before being revived in 2014. Extensive research was done before moving into pre-production, which required the creation of twenty-two highly detailed sets, and numerous costumes and props to strengthen its opulence and high production value. Principal photography took place on sets constructed in Film City, with some portions being filmed on location. Visual effects and CGI were used in post-production to enhance a number of scenes.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: The film was released on 18 December 2015 and was praised for Bhansali's direction, various technical achievements, and the performances of the cast. "Bajirao Mastani" has also been noted for its scale, grandeur and attention to detail.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Recipient of several accolades, "Bajirao Mastani" won 7 National Film Awards, including Best Direction (Bhansali) and Best Supporting Actress (Azmi). The film received a leading 14 nominations at the 61st Filmfare Awards, including Best Actress (Padukone) and Best Supporting Actress (Azmi), and won a leading 9 awards, including Best Film, Best Director (Bhansali), Best Actor (Singh) and Best Supporting Actress (Chopra). At the Zee Cine Awards, Singh won Best Actor –Male (Critics) and Padukone won Best Actor – Female. It became the 29th highest grossing Indian film of all time.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: In the early 18th century, the court of Maratha Emperor Chhatrapati Shahu needs a new "Peshwa", the equivalent of a prime minister. Ambaji Pant nominates a young Bajirao. As a test, Bajirao is asked to split a peacock feather with an arrow. He succeeds and is given the "Peshwa" title. Ten years later, his wife Kashibai is visited by her widowed friend Bhanu, whose husband, accused of spying, was ordered to be executed by Bajirao. She predicts that just as she yearns for her husband, Kashibai will yearn for Bajirao.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: While travelling to Sironja, an emissary from Bundelkhand requests Bajirao's help to fight invaders. She reveals herself to be Mastani, the daughter of the Hindu Rajput king Chhatrasal and his Persian Muslim consort Ruhani Begum. Impressed by her skills as a warrior, Bajirao assists her with his army and defeats the invaders. Chhatrasal is overjoyed and insists Bajirao to spend Holi with them. Mastani and Bajirao fall in love during this time and he gives her his dagger, unaware that it is a symbol of marriage among the Rajputs. Back home in Pune, Kashibai greets Bajirao with a tour of their newly built Shaniwar Wada and the Aaina Mahal (Hall of Mirrors), which allows her to see him from her room.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Determined to pursue her love, Mastani arrives in Pune but is treated harshly by Bajirao's mother Radhabai and accommodated in the palace for courtesans, as Radhabai refuses to accept her as a daughter-in-law. Mastani tolerates this and adamantly expresses her desire to be with Bajirao; Bajirao chides in her persistence, reminding her he is already married and will never fully be hers; his court will also never respect her. Mastani agrees to these conditions so Bajirao declares her his second wife.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: The Marathas prepare to attack Delhi, the capital of the Mughal Empire, but must first ensure the Nizam, the Muslim ruler of Hyderabad, will not attack them. Bajirao leaves to confront the Nizam, Qamar ud-Din Khan, and returns successful. Through her Aaina Mahal, a pregnant Kashibai sees Bajirao embracing Mastani, who is also expecting. Heartbroken, she leaves for her mother's home, and returns months later with her newborn son, who is named Raghunath. Mastani also gives birth to a son, named Krishna Rao. After the Brahmin priest refuses to conduct the Hindu naming ceremony on the grounds that Krishna Rao is illegitimate, Bajirao renames his son Shamsher Bahadur, deciding he will be raised Muslim. A few years later, Kashibai and Bajirao's eldest son Balaji Baji Rao, known as Nana Saheb, returns from Satara and expresses his hatred of Mastani for breaking his mother's marriage.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Kashibai is informed of a plan to murder Mastani and her son during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. She saves Mastani by relaying this to an unaware Bajirao, who promptly rescues them. To keep Mastani safe and grant her a royal home, Bajirao builds a palace for her. He later leaves for the battlefield to defeat Nasir Jung, the vengeful son of the Nizam. Before leaving, he meets Kashibai in deference to the tradition that the wife see her husband into battle. In tears, Kashibai explains that Bajirao broke her heart and took her pride in what he has done, and compares their love with that of Krishna and Rukmini. She asks him never to enter her chamber again, and a teary-eyed Bajirao accepts, apologising for hurting her.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Once Bajirao leaves, his mother and Nana Saheb imprison Mastani and her son. After Bajirao receives the news, he singlehandedly defeats Nasir Jung's army in his rage but is grievously injured. At Bajirao's deathbed, Kashibai sends a letter pleading with his mother to release Mastani so that he recovers. Nana Saheb burns the letter, though Mastani's son is set free. Bajirao, delirious from his illness, hallucinates and dies as Kashibai helplessly watches; at the same time, Mastani dies in captivity. The ill-fated lovers are united in death.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Sanjay Leela Bhansali had conceived the historical romance about Maratha Peshwa Bajirao and his second wife Mastani even before he had directed his first feature "" in 1996. Several other directors such as Muzaffar Ali, Manmohan Desai and Kamal Amrohi had tried to make a film about the two historical figures but they were never made. Bhansali had intended to make "Bajirao Mastani" after the release of "Devdas" (2002) and had officially announced it in 2003, with filming scheduled to begin in May 2004. The film, however, was shelved indefinitely. Reports about a possible revival had made headlines ever since; Bhansali had planned to revive it every other year but the project never came to fruition. In an interview with "The Telegraph", Bhansali spoke about his intention to make "Bajirao Mastani" after finishing every film he made in-between, saying "I kept trying to revive it over and over again, but if there is one thing that filmmaking has taught me, it's that every film has its own destiny. And I strongly believe that the souls of ... Bajirao, Mastani and Kashibai wanted us to make this film only now." In the process, the film became a passion project for him.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: After spending eleven years in development hell, Bhansali revived the project in 2014; the film was reported to be an adaptation of the Marathi-language novel "Rau" (1976) by Nagnath S. Inamdar. After the project was shelved, Bhansali said he struggled to put the film together and that he considered the project impossible to make. Nevertheless, he clung to his ambition to make the film someday, saying, "there is magic to it". Some film industry professionals believed it would never be made, calling it "jinxed". Bhansali always believed in the project, assuring himself the script was so powerful he had to make it one day. He told "The Telegraph", "Honestly, I want very few things in life ... so I know that I am resilient enough to get them all! Deep down, I kept asking for the universe to let me make this film. When you dream very genuinely, then I believe you also get the power to fulfill it. In pursuing "Bajirao Mastani", I have been resilient and very focused. I have sacrificed a lot of things".


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Primarily known for making romantic dramas, Bhansali was intrigued about the romance between "two people who defied everything, just to be in love with each other", and was excited to tell a 200-year-old story. He wanted to show the relationship between Bajirao and Mastani because it was rarely depicted in history books, and little was known about it. He had long admired the Maratha backdrop and the different religions of the protagonistsBajirao was Hindu and Mastani was Muslimwhich further drove his interest towards knowing more and telling the story. He saw it as a chance to comment on religion and love, saying, "In those times, people were offended by the same things that offend them today. Through this film, I want to show that love is the greatest religion."


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Prakash R. Kapadia wrote the screenplay. The makers acquired the rights of the novel and worked with historian Ninad Bedekar. Kapadia said writing the screenplay was a difficult task and a huge responsibility considering the historical context. Kapadia and Bhansali had consistently worked on the script since its conception, refining several aspects of the film. Considering the script was written twelve years before, several changes were made to it, such as the decreasing the length and increasing the pace to suit the modern audiences. Although adapted from the novel, the romance between the film's protagonists has not been well documented in history books or archives and several versions of the story exist. Many cinematic liberties were taken to build drama and highlight incidents.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Bhansali originally wanted to repeat his "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" (1999) pairing of Salman Khan with Aishwarya Rai for the eponymous roles, but could not cast them together after their highly publicised break-up. Khan then tried to suggest his then-girlfriend Katrina Kaif for the role of Mastani but things did not materialise. When the film was finally announced in 2003, Bhansali had cast Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the titular roles, with Rani Mukerji playing Baji Rao's first wife Kashibai. However, the idea was scrapped when Khan and Kapoor signed other films together. Bhansali wanted to be the first director to showcase their pairing. Hence, the film was shelved and Bhansali went on to direct other films.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Over the following ten years, media speculation about the production and casting of "Bajirao Mastani" continued. After the film was revived in 2014, reports of Ajay Devgn and Deepika Padukone being approached for the film made headlines in February. Devgn dropped out of the film, however, due to differences with Bhansali about several terms of his contract, such as dates and remuneration. The next month, it was reported that Ranveer Singh was in talks to play Bajirao. The same month, reports suggested Priyanka Chopra was cast to play Kashibai, Bajirao's first wife. In July 2014, it was officially confirmed that Singh, Padukone and Chopra were finalised to play the principal roles.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Chopra was the first actor to be cast in the film; Bhansali wanted Kashibai to be cast first, only after which he could decide whom to cast for the title roles. Bhansali, who produced Chopra-starrer "Mary Kom" (2014), went on to that film's set in Manali to narrate it with the writer Prakash Kapadia; Bhansali was adamant in his choice of Chopra, who recalled, "The rest of the film hadn't been cast yet. My picture would be there and the pictures for Bajirao and Mastani would keep changing."


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Milind Soman joined the cast in the late August 2014. In late September 2014, it was confirmed that Tanvi Azmi was cast for the role of Bajirao's mother Radhabai; Shabana Azmi, Dimple Kapadia, and Supriya Pathak had also been considered for the role. The following month, Aditya Pancholi joined the cast as an antagonist. In November 2014, the casting of Bajirao's sisters were finalised; Sukhada Khandkekar was ast as Anubai and Anuja Gokhale as Bhiubai. The following month, Mahesh Manjrekar was cast to play Maratha Emperor Chhattrapati Shahu. It was announced in January 2015 that Vaibhav Tatwawaadi was chosen to play Bajirao's younger brother Chimaji Appa. Irrfan Khan was cast as the film's narrator.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: All of the actors had to undergo training before filming began; Singh and Padukone learned sword-fighting, horse-riding and the ancient Indian martial art Kalaripayattu. Singh was also required to learn Marathi and shave his head for the part, whereas Padukone had to take Kathak dance lessons. In preparation for her role of Kashibai, Chopra had 15 days of language training in the Peshwai Marathi dialect spoken during the time of the ascension of the Peshwas to perfect the accent. Azmi shaved her head completely for her role.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Singh has described his character as a "true Maratha", saying, "The deeper I get into it the more I realise what a great man he was. It is a great honour to be selected to play this character." He has said he always wanted to transform himself into a character and playing Bajirao gave him that scope, which he said was "draining and tiring in every way". For portraying Bajirao, Singh's preparations required him to isolate himself from his own being and living like Bajirao. He instructed the crew members to address him as Bajirao, which helped him to remain in his character. Singh would not respond to people who used his real name. He said, "It takes a lot of work and effort to be different from whom I am, and two hours to get ready, complete with makeup and the heavy costumes. After all this, if someone just tells me, Ranveer, your shot is ready! all that goes to waste." Padukone found her character to be very relatable, saying, "She was so brave, strong, determined and yet fragile and vulnerable". She was also inspired by her character and found playing the role challenging; it was physically demanding and required a lot of dancing. Padukone said the character had different layers; "One minute she goes on the battlefield, the next minute she's romancing him". Chopra was drawn towards the film because of her character which she thought was "very heart-breaking". She said playing Kashibai was "emotionally difficult" and a complete contrast to the strong women she has portrayed in most of her films. She described her character as someone who is "heartbroken, a silent sufferer, dignified, resilient, can't take charge of her life, goes with whatever life throws her way. Just grace under fire."


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Considering its scale, the film required detailed and extravagant pre-production work, which required extensive research and planning. Saloni Dhatrak, Sriram Iyengar and Sujeet Sawant worked as production designers on the film. Iyengar and Sawant had heard about the film while working on another film, when it was first announced. Having never met Bhansali, they started researching on their own by visiting Pune and Satara and learnt about Maratha architecture. When the film was shelved, they continued to research and formed a portfolio, hoping to approach other filmmakers for work. Several years later, when they heard about the revival, they met Bhansali, who was impresses by their research and presentation. Bhansali wanted more research on Mughals; he engaged Dhatrak, who joined Iyengar and Sawant. Bhansali then shared the script with the art directors and described his vision and the scale of the production. Pre-production work started as early as February 2014, continued as the shoot progressed and lasted until the filming was complete in October 2015; it lasted nineteen months. Before pre-production work started, the art directors discussed with Bhansali about how much of the film would be filmed on set and outdoor locations, giving them an idea to how many sets they needed to create. Once the number of sets and location shots was decided, the production moved forward.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Along with the art directors, nineteen art assistant directors, including architects, designers, sketch artists and props artists, were involved. Twenty-two sets were created in Film City following a flow chart that included around 960 sketches and countless layouts. The two biggest sets were the exact replicas of Shaniwar Wada and the Aaina Mahal, both of which were "high on grandeur and intricacy". The Shaniwar Wada set was the biggest set they had constructed; it took 45,000 planks and 600 workers a day to erect. It was constructed on Sunil Maidan, one of the biggest open spaces in Film City and took forty-five days to build. Kashibai's room was the first set to be constructed, which was approved after navigating through twenty-five designs. The art directors did architectural research from Pune, Nasik and Satara, studying fortifications, baston walls and city gates to understand the interior and exterior designs of the ancient period and incorporated those ideas into building Kashibai's villa. Lotus motifs on mud-clad walls and handmade textures were used to give the set a realistic appearance.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Aina Mahal took 4,500 planks, with a hundred workers per day. The set was given a lotus-like design, with walls, ceiling and floor made out of handmade mud embedded with sparkling mirror designs. The replica of Aina Mahal was constructed in forty days, with more than 30,000 square feet of mirrors. More than 700 design stencils were used to decorate the hall. Although the mirror hall was a Mughal concept, the art directors designed it to look like Maratha architecture. Mastani Mahal was built as an amalgamation of Rajput and Maratha architecture. The exterior of Mastani Mahal was built as a part of Shaniwar Wada, whereas the interiors of were built on separate sets consisting of a courtyard and bedroom. Mastani's room in Bundelkhand was crafted using a mix of Persian, Mughal and Rajput motifs and architecture.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: All of the sets were furnished with opulent objects and props to give the interiors a feel of the ancient Maratha empire. Only earthen diyas and torches were used to light the sets. Silken saris were used, with bedsheets and hand-painted walls with 18th century motifs added. Craftsmen were hired to recreate 18th-century textures, fabrics, weaponry, jewellery and furniture. Almost 30,000 oil lamps were made for the film and 500 suits of armour were designed for the war scenes. There were also headgear and boots worn in that period. The armour and headgear weighed between ten-twenty kilos and two kilos, respectively. The team also designed props including different types of tents, lighting props, and elephant and horse decors for the war sequences. The props were made in Mumbai and had to be taken to Rajasthan, the outdoor location.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: The film's costumes were designed by Anju Modi and Maxima Basu. Modi designed clothes for the three lead characters and Basu designed for the supporting cast. The costumes for extras and war extras were done by Ajay and Chandrakant, respectively. Bhansali had detailed script-reading sessions with the designers to help them understand the characters, their emotions and personalities, which would mirror the costumes and the grandeur of the 18th century. Basu started her research by visiting several ancient monuments such as the Chowmahalla Palace, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Salar Jung Museum and Ajanta-Ellora caves, which gave her some perspective of ancient Maharastrian culture. She also travelled to cities such as Indore, Chanderi, Paithan and Maheshwar to gather more knowledge about the history of clothing and textiles.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: About 300 costumes were designed for the three leads alone. Real zari and gold wires were used to weave the costumes. Since no pictures of Kashibai existed, the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma were used as a reference for designing her looks and costumes. Modi had designed eighty nauvari or nine-yard saris with bright colours such as yellows, hot pink, emerald green and purple, inspired from the Raja Ravi Varma paintings, for Chopra. The custom-made nine-yard saris were weaved by craftsmen from Maheshwar, Chander and Varanasi; they were made a little lighter than usual to avoid making Chopra look large on screen. For making the saris, fabrics such as silk, muslin, khadi and chanderi worn in that period were designed. For one song sequence featuring Chopra, Modi had created six sets of the same sari.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Peshwas used to wear "Dhotis", "Jamas" and "Angarkhas" with a large flare in that period, so it was eminent for Bajirao's character. A wide palette of solid colours, such as white and cream, were used for the sombre and emotional scenes whereas red, orange, blue and deep purple were used for the celebratory scenes. For designing the Bajirao's armour, chain mail, khaki and steel grey were employed. A dandpatta sword was also made for him. For Mastani, Modi used a mix of Persian and Muslim clothing of muslin, khadi and thin chanderi fabrics, with and zardosi hand embroidery to depict her half-Muslim heritage. Padukone was predominantly given shararas and its derivatives such trailing shararas, shararas with less flare and crinkled shararas made of chiffon. She was given a lehenga for just one scene. She was also given Odhnis, dupattas, veils, floor-skimming anarkalis and paired with Farshi Pajamas. Softer colours with Persian influences such as shades of powder blue, mint green, pale yellow, aqua blue, powder pink and other typical porcelain colours were used for her clothes. A turban embellished with jewellery such as uncut diamonds and pearls was designed. For one of the Mastani costumes, Modi designed a five-layered outfit consisting of an jacket, a woven leheria dupatta, sharara and inner kurti.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Expensive and real jewellery was used in the film. The designers created the jewellery for each character. Modi said they did not want to compromise, so the best materials such as real Basra pearls, antique stones and uncut diamonds were used to give the royal look needed for the characters. Traditional Marathi-style jewellery was used to style Kashibai, while for Mastani Nizami and polki Jewellery was used. Several Indian jewellery designers, including PN Gadgil from Pune and Shri Hari Jewellers from Delhi, were hired. The costume and production designers also researched in museums, art galleries, history books, paintings, palaces, temples and forts to study the textiles, colour palettes and artwork of the ancient Maratha Empire.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee shot the film using Arri Alexa XT lenses. Chatterjee had done extensive research before starting the film. Principal photography began on 9 October 2014 with Chopra on the set in Film City, Mumbai. Later that month, Singh joined the shoot. Most of the film was shot on the highly detailed sets. In late November, Chopra fainted on the set due to exhaustion while filming a scene that needed to be filmed ten times continuously. A doctor was called and filming stopped for some time but she later resumed the shoot. Padukone joined the cast for two days during late December 2014 and resumed shooting in April 2015 after completing work for her other projects.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Outdoor location filming began in February 2015 at Amer Fort in Jaipur. Crowd scenes were also filmed there. Singh fell off a horse while filming an action sequence and was rushed to hospital; he was not seriously injured. In May 2015, however, he injured his shoulder and needed surgery; he resumed shooting after break of two months.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Chopra resumed filming in the first week of April 2015 for a month. While working on "Bajirao Mastani", Chopra was simultaneously filming the American television series "Quantico" in Montreal, requiring much back-and forth travel. She would act for "Bajirao Mastani" at weekends and return to Montreal on weekdays for her series, returning to India in the second week of October to complete the final schedule.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Before starting the film, the team discussed which parts of it had to be filmed and which parts needed to be made using visual effects. They decided that only sequences that were considered difficult or impossible to film would be created using visual effects in post production. In one sequence, it was impossible to control the movements of the 300–400 horses standing at one position in a battle scene; this sequence was filmed with a small number of horses and was later enhanced in post production.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Sham Kaushal co-ordinated the action sequences for the war scenes. Three war sequences were filmed in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Chatterjee found the war sequences challenging and faced many difficulties while filming in the deserts of Rajasthan. Wanting to break with norms, Bhansali wanted a night-time war sequence; lighting a large, open field became very difficult and visibility issues were inevitable. Bhansali wanted very clear images. Instead, they decided to shoot these scenes in the morning, aiming for a twilight look. The main war scene featuring 800 extras, 500 horses and twenty-five elephants was filmed over twenty days near Jaipur. The extras would begin costuming, which included beards for the Mughals, moustaches for the Marathas, armours, helmets and uniforms, at 04:00 for the start of filming at 08:00. After finishing the shoot, the costumes would be washed in readiness for 04:00 the following day. Kaushal has said extensive research was done before filming the war sequences, and a rough graph was designed nine months before the filming. However, the entire sequence could not be filmed in one take on location and was completed later in a studio in Film City, and was enhanced in post production.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Ganesh Acharya, Remo D'Souza, Pony Verma, Shampa Gopikrishna and Pandit Birju Maharaj were the choreographers for the film's song sequences. Bhansali chose D'Souza, who had only choreographed modern dance numbers at that time, to choreograph the song "Pinga", which took weeks to complete. Chopra and Padukone had to rehearse for several days before shooting. The filming was challenging for Chopra and Padukone; they had to shoot for the dance sequences multiple times whenever the diyas and torches used to light up the background would snuff. The song was shot at night on an open-air set decorated with diyas and torches, many of which would snuff out while filming the song. When it was suggested snuffed diyas should be corrected in post production, Bhansali outright refused. More than twelve people would run around the set with candles and oil to relight them.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: The sound recording was done on location. Sound designer Nihar Ranjan Samal said they had to be careful that sounds of vehicles and honking did not make their way into the recording. A number of scenes needed re-recording because of some disturbance. "Bajirao Mastani" was shot in 217 days between October 2014 and October 2015.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: The film contains 1,400 visual effects shots. The company that worked on the effects was NY VFXWAALA; this was the biggest projects they had undertaken. Prasad Sutar was the visual effects supervisor; the effects took eight months and a team of sixty artists to create. Although the film was shot on highly detailed sets, visual effects and CGI was incorporated in post-production to enhance the imagery for the scenes that were impossible to shoot in live action.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: The effects included the creation of interior architecture, backgrounds, set extensions and war weapons; changes to lighting and time of day, weather effects and the multiplication of army soldiers. The opening night-time war scene, which had 300 visual effects shots, was filmed in bright daylight then converted into night. Arrows flying over the battlefield were created using CGI whereas the army, soldiers and horses were multiplied. The war close-up shots were filmed in a studio but were later mixed with the war scenes to form a detailed scene. In some shots, the sky was digitally replaced and CGI forts were added in others. Similarly, the climax sequence, which was shot live in water, was enhanced using CGI horses, arrows and fireballs. The climax scene took around twenty days to complete with fine details.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Bhansali wanted a grand opening title design, which the team decided to create using animation. They crafted hand-drawn storyboards and drew a narration of Bajirao and his kingdom, and designed it digitally using animation within a limited timeline. A sequence in which Singh crosses the sea in a boat at night was created using visual effects. Splashing waves, falling rain falling (except for the water falling on Singh and the night sky were created in post production. The scenes that were shot on set and featured outside views, such as views from windows, were completed in post production. For dark, emotional scenes, a low-key background was created, whereas bright, colourful backgrounds were created with effects for light scenes. The film was edited by Rajesh G. Pandey.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: The original score of the film was composed by Sanchit Balhara and the soundtrack album was composed by Bhansali. The lyrics are written by Siddharth–Garima, A. M. Turaz and Prashant Ingole. The album consists of ten original songs with vocals by Shreya Ghoshal, Arijit Singh, Vishal Dadlani, Shashi Suman, Kunal Pandit, Prithvi Gandharva, Kanika Joshi, Rashi Raagga, Geetikka Manjrekar, Payal Dev, Shreyas Puranik, Vaishali Mhade, Javed Bashir, Ganesh Chandanshive and Sukhwinder Singh. The soundtrack was released by Eros Music on 31 October 2015.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: The soundtrack album was well received by music critics, who praised the soulful compositions and called them "melodious and fresh". R. M. Vijayakar of "India-West" gave the album 4.5 out of 5, calling it "unforgettable" and complimented the use of musical instruments and orchestration, noting portions of the score as the most significant standout. "Firstpost" gave a highly positive review, praising the "elegantly arranged and opulently orchestrated" songs and writing, "exhilarating soundtrack ... recreates an era gone-by through sounds that are authentic ... yet operatic, steeped in the classical ethos, yet contemporary". Joginder Tuteja of "Bollywood Hungama" gave a rating of 3.5 out of 5, calling it "high on classical base" and saying half of the compositions were situational and narrative-based that can "be expected to make a good impression on screen". "The Indian Express" also gave it a 3.5 out of 5, noting its distinct sound and its "balance between restraint and exuberance" and wrote, ""Bajirao Mastani" sounds fresh, like carefully restored music from Bajirao's times".


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: "Bajirao Mastani" was one of the most anticipated releases of 2015. Special care was taken to avoid leaks during production; everything was done in secrecy. On 15 July 2015, a day before the teaser release, producers Eros International shared the first images of the three characters and a teaser poster of the film. The three-minute teaser trailer, with only one line of dialogue, was released on 16 July 2015. The teaser garnered high praise from all quarters and was deemed "grand" and "epic". "News18" called the teaser "regal, grand and breathtaking", and wrote that it had all the signature Bhansali elements such as "the big sets, larger than life characters, lots of colours and a tragic love story in the midst of all this grandeur". "India Today" wrote, "With its royal canvas, "Bajirao Mastani" teaser is a burst of colours and action reminiscent of the 18th century". In early November 2015, characters posters of the three characters were also unveiled. The trailer was released on 20 November 2015 and was also well received.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: As a part of the promotions, a multi-episode graphic web series –India's first – titled "Blazing Bajirao" was released digitally in November 2015. Featuring the animated avatars of Bajirao, Kashibai and Mastani, the graphic series narrates the tales of Bajirao's heroism and his relationship with his two wives. This was followed by a video game titled "Blazing Bajirao – The Game" the next month. Released on the App Store and Google Play, the interactive game requires its players to fight enemies as Peshwa Bajirao. A multi-city press tour, which saw Singh and Padukone visiting several cities, was designed to promote the film. Chopra, who could not be in India for the promotions as she was filming for "Quantico", promoted the film in the United States at a press conference in New York City.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: The descendants of Bajirao, Mastani and Kashibai expressed their disapproval of "Malhari" and "Pinga" dance sequences, the midriff-baring saris worn by Kashibai and Mastani in the song "Pinga", a dialogue deeming it "vulgar" and a "private moment" shown in the trailer, claiming excessive creative liberty was taken by the director. Though not against the release of the film, the descendants publicly asked the makers to remove those two songs and screen the film for them so they could review and suggest Bhansali remove other "objectionable content" from the film. Bhansali did not respond. Additionally, a petition was filed by an activist in Bombay High Court seeking stay on the film for the two aforementioned songs, accusing it of "distorting history"; the High Court rejected the petition and refused to interfere with the film's release.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: One of the most expensive Hindi films ever made, "Bajirao Mastani" cost 125 crore to make and an additional 20 crore for marketing and advertisements; its total budget was 145 crore. Even before its release, the film recovered almost all of its production costs – 120 crore – from sales of its satellite rights, music rights and overseas rights being sold for 50 crore and 70 crore, respectively. The film was released on 18 December 2015 on 2,700 screens worldwide. Although the makers had booked the date a year in advance, the makers of "Dilwale" decided to release their film on the same date, causing a highly publicized clash between the two films. "Bajirao Mastani" had to share the 5,000 domestic screens with "Dilwale" in a 40:60 ratio.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: Distributed by Eros Home Video, the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 18 March 2016. The DVD version was released in all regions as a two-disc pack in NTSC widescreen format; bonus content included documentaries about the making of the film, its sets, costumes, music, movie images and deleted scenes. A VCD version was released at the same time. The film was also released digitally on platforms such as iTunes. It is also available on the company's streaming service Eros Now. "Bajirao Mastani" had its world television premiere on 23 April 2016 on Colors.


title: Bajirao Mastani

text: "Bajirao Mastani" received highly positive reviews from critics. Writing for "Firstpost", Subhash K. Jha gave it 5 stars out of 5, calling it a "masterpiece", and comparing it favorably with "Mughal-e-Azam" (1960). Anupama Chopra from "Hindustan Times" gave 4.5 stars out of 5, terming it "soaring, searing and visually sumptuous", and writing, ""Bajirao Mastani" plays out a like an operatic, swooning, feverish love poem." She felt that Singh wasn't "instantly convincing", but nonetheless praised him (as the film progressed) for "combin[ing] towering strength with aching vulnerability and helplessness", Chopra for having the "maximum impact" despite fewer scenes, and called Padukone "riveting". However, she criticized Azmi's acting. "The Times of India" also gave 4 stars out of 5, pointing out its "outstanding" cinematography and writing, "Every visual resembles a grand painting – courts with shadows and chandeliers, courtiers with tilaks and teers, chambers gleaming with mirrors, skies blushing with passion."