title: Looking for Alaska

text: "Looking for Alaska" follows the novel's main character and narrator Miles Halter, or "Pudge," to boarding school where he goes to seek a "Great Perhaps," the famous last words of François Rabelais. Throughout the 'Before' section of the novel, Miles and his friends Chip "The Colonel" Martin, Alaska Young, and Takumi Hikohito grow very close and the section culminates in Alaska's death. In the second half of the novel, Miles and his friends work to discover the missing details of the night Alaska died. While struggling to reconcile Alaska's death, Miles grapples with the last words of Simón Bolívar and the meaning of life, leaving the conclusion to these topics unresolved.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: "Looking for Alaska" is a coming-of-age novel that touches on themes of meaning, grief, hope, and youth-adult relationships. The novel won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, and led the association's list of most-challenged books in 2015 due to profanity and a sexually explicit scene. Ultimately, it became the fourth-most challenged book in the United States between 2010 and 2019. Schools in Kentucky, Tennessee, and several other states have attempted to place bans on the book. In 2005, Paramount Pictures received the rights to produce a film adaptation of "Looking for Alaska"; however, the film failed to reach production. "Looking for Alaska", a television miniseries, premiered as a Hulu Original on October 18, 2019.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: "Looking for Alaska" is based on John Green's early life. Growing up, Green always loved writing, but when it came to his middle school experience, he classified life as a middle schooler as "pretty bleak". As a student, Green describes that he was "unbearable" to parents and teachers; however, he always worked hard to fit in with his peers. Green's situation did not improve after his transition to high school, so he asked his parents if he could attend Indian Springs School, a boarding school outside of Birmingham, Alabama. His parents agreed, and he spent the remainder of his time in high school at Indian Springs School forming valuable relationships with teachers, relationships that Green says still exist today. Green's experience at boarding school inspired him to write "Looking for Alaska." Many of the characters and events that take place in the novel are based on what Green experienced at Indian Springs, including the death of a central character in the novel.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: During a book talk at Rivermont Collegiate on October 19, 2006, Green shared that the idea of Takumi's "fox hat" in "Looking for Alaska" originated from a Filipino friend who wore a similar hat while playing pranks at the school. He also noted that his inspiration for the possessed swan in Culver Creek derived from a similar swan he remembers at Indian Springs. The two pranks that occur in the book are similar to pranks that Green pulled at school, but Green emphasizes that while the setting is based on his life, the novel is entirely fictional.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: As a child, Green became infatuated with famous last words, specifically those of John Adams. His fascination with last words led him to finding other famous last words, including those of Emily Dickinson, Oscar Wilde, and Simón Bolívar. Green passes this love of last words onto the main character, Miles, and uses Bolivar's last words to inspire a search for meaning in the face of tragedy for the characters of his novel.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: Miles Halter, a teenage boy obsessed with the last words of famous people, leaves his normal high school in Florida to attend Culver Creek Preparatory High School in Alabama for his junior year. Miles' reasoning for such a change is quoted by François Rabelais's last words: "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." Miles' new roommate, Chip "The Colonel" Martin, nicknames Miles "Pudge" and introduces Pudge to his friends: hip-hop MC Takumi Hikohito and Alaska Young, an intelligent, beautiful, and emotionally unstable girl. Learning of Pudge's obsession with famous last words, Alaska informs him of Simón Bolívar's: "Damn it. How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!" The two make a deal that if Pudge figures out what the labyrinth is and how to escape it, Alaska will find him a girlfriend. Later, Alaska sets Pudge up with a Romanian classmate, Lara.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: Unfortunately, Pudge and Lara have a disastrous date, ending with a concussed Pudge throwing up on Lara's pants. Alaska and Pudge grow closer and he begins to fall in love with her, although she insists on keeping their relationship platonic because she has a boyfriend at Vanderbilt University named Jake, whom she insists that she loves.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: On his first night at Culver Creek, Pudge is kidnapped and thrown into a lake by the "Weekday Warriors," a group of rich schoolmates who blame the Colonel and his friends for the expulsion of their friend, Paul. Takumi claims that they are innocent because their friend Marya was also expelled during the incident. However, Alaska later admits to Miles that she told on both Marya and Paul to the dean, Mr. Starnes, nicknamed as "The Eagle", to save herself from being expelled.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: The gang celebrates a successful series of pranks by drinking and partying, and an inebriated Alaska confides about her mother's death from an aneurysm when she was eight years old. Although she failed to understand it at the time, she feels guilty for not calling 911. Pudge figures that her mother's death made Alaska impulsive and rash. He concludes that the labyrinth was a person's suffering and that humans must try to find their way out. Afterwards, Pudge grows closer to Lara, and they start dating. A week later, after another "celebration," an intoxicated Alaska and Pudge spend the night with each other. Soon, Alaska receives a phone call that causes her to be hysterical. Insisting that she has to leave, Alaska drives away while still drunk, and the Colonel and Pudge distract Mr. Starnes. They later learn that Alaska was driving under the influence and died.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: The Colonel and Pudge are devastated, blame themselves, wonder about her reasons for undertaking the urgent drive, and even contemplate that she might have deliberately killed herself. The Colonel insists on questioning Jake, her boyfriend, but Pudge refuses for fear that he might learn that Alaska never loved him. They argue, and the Colonel accuses Pudge of loving only an idealized Alaska that he made up in his head. Pudge realizes the truth and reconciles with the Colonel.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: As a way of celebrating Alaska's life, Pudge, the Colonel, Takumi, and Lara team up with the Weekday Warriors to hire a male stripper to speak at Culver's Speaker Day, a prank that had been developed by Alaska before her death. The whole school finds it hilarious; even Mr. Starnes acknowledges how clever it was. Pudge finds Alaska's copy of "The General in His Labyrinth" with the labyrinth quote underlined and notices the words "straight and fast" written in the margins. He remembers Alaska died on the morning after the anniversary of her mother's death and concludes that Alaska felt guilty for not visiting her mother's grave and, in her rush, might have been trying to reach the cemetery. On the last day of school, Takumi confesses in a note that he was the last person to see Alaska, and he let her go as well. Pudge realizes that letting her go no longer matters as much. He forgives Alaska for dying, as he knows Alaska forgives him for letting her go.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: "Looking for Alaska" is divided into two halves named 'Before' and 'After' as in before and after Alaska's death, and are narrated by main character Miles Halter. Rather than the typical numerical system, each chapter is denoted through the number of days before Alaska's death or the number of days after. The genesis of this structure resulted from John Green's influence of public reactions to the events on September 11, 2001. In an interview with Random House Publishing, Green recalled that newscasters stated that people would now view the world through the lens of either before or after 9/11. Green says in the same interview, “We look back to the most important moment in our history, and that becomes the dividing line between what we were and what we are now. So I wanted to reflect on the way we measure and think of time.” For the characters in "Looking for Alaska", Alaska's death proved a life-altering moment, and Green wanted to reflect this importance by creating the structure of the novel around the axis of Alaska's death.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: "Looking for Alaska" is classified as "young adult fiction". While Green used his own life as a source of inspiration, the novel itself is entirely fictional. In an interview with Random House Publishing, Green states that the intended audience for the novel is high-school students. In a separate interview, Green comments that he wrote the novel intending it to be young adult fiction because he wished to contribute to the formation of his readers’ values in a meaningful way. Furthermore, themes of sex, drugs, alcohol, first love, and loss classify the book as young adult fiction.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: After Alaska's death, Pudge and Colonel investigate the circumstances surrounding the traumatic event. While looking for answers, the boys are subconsciously dealing with their grief, and their obsession with finding answers transforms into a search for meaning. Pudge and Colonel want to find out the answers to certain questions surrounding Alaska's death, but in reality, they are enduring their own labyrinths of suffering, a concept central to the novel. When their theology teacher Mr. Hyde poses a question to his class about the meaning of life, Pudge takes this opportunity to write about it as a labyrinth of suffering. He accepts that it exists and admits that even though the tragic loss of Alaska created his own labyrinth of suffering, he continues to have faith in the "Great Perhaps," meaning that Pudge must search for meaning in his life through inevitable grief and suffering. Literary scholar from the University of Northern British Columbia Barb Dean analyzes Pudge and the Colonel's quest for answers as they venture into finding deeper meaning in life. Because this investigation turns into something that is used to deal with the harsh reality of losing Alaska, it leads to Pudge finding his way through his own personal labyrinth of suffering and finding deeper meaning to his life.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: When Alaska dies unexpectedly, the repercussions in the lives of her friends are significant, especially for Pudge and the Colonel. Barb Dean concludes that it is normal to seek answers about what happened and why. She also points out that in writing "Looking for Alaska", John Green wished to dive deeper into the grieving process by asking the question "how does one rationalize the harshness and messiness of life when one has, through stupid, thoughtless, and very human actions, contributed to that very harshness?" Pudge and the Colonel blame themselves for Alaska's death because they do not stop her from driving while intoxicated. Because of this, their grieving process consists of seeking answers surrounding her death since they feel that they are responsible. Ultimately, Miles is able to come to the conclusion that Alaska would forgive him for any fault of his in her death and thus his grief is resolved in a healthy way.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: Throughout the book, the events that Miles and other characters experience are typical coming-of-age situations. Book reviews often note this theme, bringing up the instances in the book such as grief that cause the characters to look at life from a new and more mature perspective. Reviews also mention that the characters themselves resemble coming-of-age figures as they are relatable to readers going through similar experiences. Barb Dean also concludes that the characters grow up faster than expected while investigating Alaska's death because exploring the concept of the labyrinth of suffering is Miles' "rite of passage" into adulthood, and he learns more about himself through grieving for Alaska. Reviews also note activities such as drinking and smoking, which, though controversial, are often viewed as rites of passage by the teenagers in this novel.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: The theme of hope plays a major role in "Looking for Alaska". Even though some of the novel's prominent themes are about death, grief and loss, Green ties hope into the end of the novel to solve Pudge's internal conflict that is incited by Alaska's death. In Barb Dean's chapter about the novel, she takes a closer look into Mr. Hyde's theology class where he discusses the similarity of the idea of hope between the founding figures of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Mr. Hyde also asks the class what their call for hope is, and Pudge decides his is his escape of his personal labyrinth of suffering. For Pudge, his call for hope is understanding the reality of suffering while also acknowledging that things like friendship and forgiveness can help diminish this suffering. Dean notes that Green has said that he writes fiction in order to "'keep that fragile strand of radical hope [alive], to build a fire in the darkness.'"


title: Looking for Alaska

text: "Looking for Alaska" is a novel that exposes readers to the interpersonal relationships between the youth and adult characters in the novel. Green presents specific adult characters, like The Eagle who is the dean of students, whose main focus is to eliminate the rebellious tendencies of various students. On the contrary, certain characters, like Dr. Hyde, the school's religious studies teacher, express positive beliefs in his students, while still maintaining an authoritative role within the classroom environment. The relationship that exists between Dr. Hyde and his students illustrates how mutual respect can lead to positive interpersonal relationships between the youth and adults.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: "Looking for Alaska" has received both positive reviews and attempts at censorship in multiple school districts. Positive reviews include comments on the relatable high school characters and situations as well as more complex ideas such as how topics like grief are handled. Overall, many reviewers agree that this is a coming-of-age story that is appealing to both older and younger readers. Reviews also highlight the unique way John Green wrote the novel as each chapter is divided chronologically leading to the climax of the plot. There has been much controversy surrounding this novel, however, especially in school settings. Parents and school administrators have questioned the novel's language, sexual content, and depiction of tobacco and alcohol use. In 2012, the book reached "The New York Times" Best Seller list for children's paperback. "Looking for Alaska" has been featured on the American Library Association's list of Frequently Challenged Books in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016 because it includes drugs, alcohol, and smoking; nudity; offensive language; it is also sexually explicit. The novel was awarded the Michael L. Printz award in 2006 and has also won praise from organizations such as the American Library Association, "School Library Journal", and the "Los Angeles Times" among others.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: Positive reviews of "Looking for Alaska" have been attributed to Green's honest portrayal of teenagers and first love. The novel's review in "The Guardian" describes the story's honesty, writing that "the beauty of the book is that it doesn't hide anything." Others cite Green's success as a result of his candidness in portraying death, loss, and grief. In a journal article titled “Although Adolescence Need Not be Violent..,” scholars Mark A. Lewis and Robert Petrone comment on the novel's ability to portray loss in a format relatable to high-school readers. They write that many teenagers experience loss throughout adolescence and Green's portrayal of real characters aids in this relatability.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: Additionally, many educators and librarians recommend "Looking for Alaska" to their students because of the powerful themes it addresses. Don Gallo, English teacher and editor for the "English Journal" writes that "Looking for Alaska" is “the most sophisticated teen novel of the year.” As a result of these reviews, "Looking for Alaska" appears on many recommended reading lists.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: "Looking for Alaska" has won and been nominated for several literary awards. The novel has also appeared on many library and newspaper recommended booklists. In 2006, "Looking for Alaska" won the Michael L. Printz Award, which is awarded by the American Library Association. The annual award honors the best Young Adult novel written each year. Additionally, "Looking for Alaska" was a finalist in 2005 for the "Los Angeles Times" Book Prize, which recognizes new and noteworthy writers. "Looking for Alaska" has been featured on the 2006 Top 10 Best Book for Young Adults, 2006 Teens' Top 10 Award, and 2006 Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. It has also been noted as a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, a Booklist Editor's Choice Pick, Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, and Borders Original Voices Selection.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: "Looking for Alaska" has frequently been challenged. Based on data collected by the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), the book was the fourth-most banned, challenged, and/or removed book in the United States between 2010 and 2019. The book landed on the ALA's list of Top 10 Banned Books in 2012 (7), 2013 (7), 2015 (1), and 2016 (6). The book has been deemed unsuited for the age group because of its sexually explicit content, offensive language, and inclusion of drugs, alcohol, and smoking.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: In March 2012, the "Knoxville Journal" reported that a parent of a 15-year-old Karns High School student objected to the book's placement on the Honors and Advanced Placement classes' required reading lists for Knox County, Tennessee high schools on the grounds that its sex scene and its use of profanity rendered it pornography. Ultimately, students were kept from reading the novel as a whole, but "Looking for Alaska" was still available in libraries within the district. In May 2012, Sumner County in Tennessee also banned the teaching of "Looking for Alaska". The school's spokesman argued that two pages of the novel included enough explicit content to ban the novel.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: Two teachers at Depew High School near Buffalo, New York, used the book for eleventh grade instruction in 2008. "Looking for Alaska" was challenged by parents for its sexual content and moral disagreements with the novel. Despite the teachers providing an alternate book, parents still argued for it to be removed from curriculum due to its inappropriate content such as offensive language, sexually explicit content, including a scene described as "pornographic", and references to homosexuality, drugs, alcohol, and smoking. The book was ultimately kept in the curriculum by the school board after a unanimous school board vote with the stipulation that the teachers of the 11th grade class give the parents a decision to have their children read an alternate book. "Looking for Alaska" was defended by the school district because they felt it dealt with themes relevant to students of this age, such as death, drinking and driving, and peer pressure.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: Further controversy came from the cover art. In August 2012, Green acknowledged that the extinguished candle on the cover leads to "an improbable amount of smoke", and explained that the initial cover design did not feature the candle. Green said that certain book chains were uncomfortable with displaying or selling a book with a cover that featured cigarette smoke, so the candle was added beneath the smoke. In Green's box set, released on October 25, 2012, the candle has been removed from the cover. Further paperback releases of the book also have the candle removed.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: In 2016, the West Ada School District in Meridian, Idaho removed "Looking for Alaska" from all of its middle school libraries. The school district found the content of the book to be too inappropriate for middle school students. The school district originally received a complaint from a parent on the grounds of the presence of foul language and mentions of actions like smoking and suicide. The district librarian looked into parental complaints along with reviews of the novel suggesting that it was best suited for high schoolers and made the decision to pull the book from the middle school library.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: In 2016 in Marion County, Kentucky, parents urged schools to drop it from the curriculum, referring to it as influencing students "to experiment with pornography, sex, drugs, alcohol and profanity." Although the teacher offered an opt-out book for the class, one parent still felt as though the book should be banned entirely and filed a formal complaint. After the challenge, students were given an alternate book for any parents who were not comfortable with their children reading the book. One parent still insisted on getting the book banned and filed a Request for Reconsideration on the basis that "Looking for Alaska" would tempt students to experiment with drugs, alcohol, and sex despite the decisions made after the challenge.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: Green defended his book on his YouTube channel, Vlogbrothers. The video, entitled "I Am Not A Pornographer", describes the Depew High School challenge of "Looking for Alaska" and his frustration at the description of his novel as pornography. Green explains the inclusion of the oral sex scene in "Looking for Alaska" stating, "The whole reason that scene in question exists in "Looking for Alaska" is because I wanted to draw a contrast between that scene, when there is a lot of physical intimacy, but it is ultimately very emotionally empty, and the scene that immediately follows it, when there is not a serious physical interaction, but there's this intense emotional connection." Green argues that the misunderstanding of his book is the reason for its controversy, and urges people to understand the actual literary content before judging specific scenes. He also disagrees with the way that groups of parents underestimate the intelligence of teenagers and their ability to analyze literature. He ends with encouraging his viewers to attend the Depew School Board hearing to support the choice of parents, students, and teachers to have "Looking for Alaska" included in public schools.


title: Looking for Alaska

text: The film rights to the novel were acquired by Paramount Pictures in 2005. The screenplay was potentially going to be written and directed by Josh Schwartz (creator of "The O.C.") but, due to a lack of interest by Paramount, the production had been shelved indefinitely. It had been reported that Paramount was putting the screenplay in review due to the success of the film adaptation of John Green's breakout novel, "The Fault in Our Stars". On February 27, 2015, "The Hollywood Reporter" announced that Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, screenwriters for Temple Hill Entertainment who had worked on adaptations for "The Fault in Our Stars" and "Paper Towns", would be writing and executive producing for the film. Paramount was actively casting the latest version of the screenplay, which was written by Sarah Polley. Rebecca Thomas was set to direct. Green also confirmed that Neustadter and Weber were still involved with the film. In August 2015, it was announced filming would begin in the fall in Michigan. It was later announced that filming would begin in early 2016 because of lack of casting decisions. Later in 2016, Green announced in a Vlogbrothers video and on social media that the film adaptation had once again been shelved indefinitely. Green explained, "It has always fallen apart for one reason or another."


title: Looking for Alaska

text: On May 9, 2018, it was announced that Hulu would be adapting the novel into an 8-episode limited series. On October 30, 2018, Green announced the lead cast: Kristine Froseth as Alaska, and Charlie Plummer as Miles.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The Proclaimers are a Scottish rock duo formed in 1983 by twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid who were born on 5 March 1962. They came to attention with their 1987 single "Letter from America", which reached No. 3 in the United Kingdom, and the 1988 single "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", which topped charts in Australia, Iceland and New Zealand. The Proclaimers have sold over 5 million albums worldwide.


title: The Proclaimers

text: First active from 1983 as an acoustic duo, the Proclaimers moved toward band-oriented rock in later works. The Proclaimers' style draws from a diversity of influences, including country, folk, and punk rock. Their playing range has included roots rock, alternative rock and folk rock, and their music is typified by their Scottish accents. The Proclaimers often tour internationally, and have released 12 studio albums since 1987, the most recent being 2022's "Dentures Out", as well as three compilation albums and a DVD.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The band are also known for their support of Scottish independence, and have voiced support for Welsh independence.


title: The Proclaimers

text: Craig Reid and Charles Reid were born in Leith on 5 March 1962 and grew up in Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty. When they lived in Auchtermuchty, they attended Bell Baxter High School.


title: The Proclaimers

text: Alluding to the early careers of Craig and Charles Reid in 1989, Bill Wyman of "Chicago Reader" commented that the pair "got into music through punk". After Craig received a beaten-up drum kit and Charlie a guitar, the pair played in punk rock bands named Black Flag, Hippy Hasslers and Reasons for Emotion. Craig Reid, in a 2016 interview with "Esquire Middle East", relayed that he loved punk acts such as The Clash, The Jam, the Sex Pistols, as well as "all the mid-60s stuff… The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Kinks".


title: The Proclaimers

text: Becoming aware of the potential of playing as a duo, the Reids established the Proclaimers as an acoustic duo in 1983. In allusion to their early sound, actor Peter Mullan said that the Proclaimers played "a mix of post-punk and folk". During this time, the duo attracted a regional fan-base, with Inverness having an especially dedicated community of supporters. Many of the duo's songs, such as "Letter from America" which was written in 1984 and reflected unemployment rates of the day, were conceived in this period.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The Proclaimers recorded a demo album with the assistance of Kevin Rowland of Dexys Midnight Runners. The demo fell into the hands of English indie pop band the Housemartins, who invited the Proclaimers to support them on their 1986 tour. First opening at the Hummingbird in Birmingham, the tour afforded the duo the opportunity to perform on Channel 4 pop programme "The Tube" in January 1987, and Chrysalis Records quickly signed the pair.


title: The Proclaimers

text: In 1987, the duo's John Williams-produced debut record "This Is the Story" was released through Chrysalis, and displayed a minimalist sound lauded by Timothy Monger as "sparse but spirited". For release as a single, the album-track "Letter from America" was remixed by Gerry Rafferty, embellishing the song with a full-band sound. The single peaked at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart, as the duo appeared on "Top of the Pops" for the first time on 12 December 1987, while the album "This Is the Story" went gold. On their 1987 breakthrough, Neil McCormick of "The Telegraph" opined that the pair "stuck out like a pair of sore thumbs" amidst the "ersatz glamour of Eighties pop".


title: The Proclaimers

text: The follow-up album, "Sunshine on Leith", was released in 1988 and featured a rock-driven sound as the Proclaimers worked with a band for the first time. Ranging in lyrical-themes from familial joy to Scottish nationalism, the record featured the singles "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", which went to number one in Australia and New Zealand, and "I'm On My Way". The album was a particularly big hit in Australia in 1989, being that year's 12th biggest-seller, reaching No. 2, and attaining a 2× multi-platinum certification by the ARIA. Craig Reid described this success as their "biggest ever". Attaining certifications of 2× multi-platinum in Canada, at the time of June 2009 "Sunshine on Leith" had sold a worldwide total of 2 million copies. The album was a critical success, with "Rolling Stone" in May 1989 lauding it "a wonderfully guileless treasure of an album".


title: The Proclaimers

text: "Sunshine on Leith"'s following concert tour included a performance at the 1989 Glastonbury Festival, playing to an audience of over 65,000.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The Proclaimers had a hit with their EP "King of the Road", which reached number nine in the UK in 1990. The EP's titular song, a Roger Miller cover, was included in the 1990 film "The Crossing".


title: The Proclaimers

text: "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" belatedly peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1993, after appearing in the movie "Benny & Joon", becoming their only chart single in the United States. This popularity saw the Proclaimers supporting American glam metal band Bon Jovi, alongside 10,000 Maniacs, at the Madison Square Garden concert on their I'll Sleep When I'm Dead Tour. "Sunshine on Leith" peaked at No. 31, shifting close to 700,000 units in the US by 2001.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The Proclaimers' third studio album, "Hit the Highway", was released in 1994. Continuing in the band-oriented rock direction of "Sunshine on Leith", "Hit the Highway" fell short of previous successes. Irrespective, the record spawned the hit "Let's Get Married", charting in the United Kingdom, Canada and Austria.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The Proclaimers recorded a cover of "Get Ready" by the Temptations for the 1994 screwball comedy film "Dumb and Dumber". Cameron Matthews of "Vice" praised the song "a rocking cover" which gave "a Scottish twist to the ... original".


title: The Proclaimers

text: In 1994, the Proclaimers appeared at Canadian alternative music festival Edgefest alongside Toad the Wet Sprocket and the Lemonheads.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The Proclaimers kept out of the public eye for much of the late 1990s, mainly due to family commitments.


title: The Proclaimers

text: After seven low-profile years, they released their comeback album "Persevere" in 2001. Lauded by Canadian culture publication "Exclaim!" as a "remarkable comeback", "Persevere" was to-date the only album of theirs to be recorded in the United States, and saw the duo tour North America in support of Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies.


title: The Proclaimers

text: "The Best of The Proclaimers" the duo's first greatest hits album, was released on 15 April 2002. The album was hailed by Hal Horowitz as "a near-perfect summary" of their material. Reaching No. 5 and being certified platinum in the UK, the compilation also charted in New Zealand.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The Proclaimers' fifth studio effort, "Born Innocent", was released in 2003. Their first release on their own label, Persevere Records, the record was hailed as "a return to form" and saw the duo work with Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins. "Born Innocent" was ranked at No. 26 for "Mojo Magazine"'s "Albums of the Year".


title: The Proclaimers

text: "Finest", the duo's second greatest hits album, was also released in 2003. Released through EMI that September, the compilation was received less favorably than its predecessor, but was nonetheless certified silver in the UK.


title: The Proclaimers

text: In March 2007 a new version of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", recorded for Comic Relief, reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. The revival of the hit featured guest vocals from sitcom characters Andy Pipkin (portrayed by Matt Lucas) and Brian Potter (Peter Kay), of "Little Britain" and "Phoenix Nights", respectively.


title: The Proclaimers

text: A seventh studio album, "Life with You", was released on 3 September 2007 in the UK, and April 2008 in the US. The lead single, "Life with You", reached No. 58 in the UK, having been the only new Proclaimers single to chart since 1994, while the record itself was their highest-charting in 13 years, peaking at No. 13. "Life with You" enjoyed a generally praising critical reception, with "Boston Globe" praising the record's politically edged content, remarking that "the Proclaimers are best when [...] proclaiming".


title: The Proclaimers

text: "Life with You"'s US release was promoted by an American tour, including performances in Buffalo, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and Solano Beach in April and May 2008.


title: The Proclaimers

text: "Notes & Rhymes", the eighth Proclaimers studio album, was released in June 2009 on the W14 label. They signed to Cooking Vinyl thereafter. The European release was on 15 June 2009, with the US release on 11 August 2009. It was simultaneously released as both the standard CD and a 'Special Limited Edition' 2-CD set, the latter being a double, slimline jewel-case. CD2 has ten tracks: four acoustic and six live. The acoustic tracks were produced by John Williams, who had produced the Proclaimers' debut album "This Is the Story". The album, including the bonus CD, was also released as a digital download.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The duo were one of the B-52s' touring partners on their Funplex tour in Australia and New Zealand in November 2009, alongside Mental as Anything.


title: The Proclaimers

text: They featured in VH1's 100 greatest one hit wonders, "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" having been their only US hit single.


title: The Proclaimers

text: "Like Comedy", in 2012, was the Proclaimers' ninth studio effort and their first to be released on Cooking Vinyl records. In its sound a foray into blue-eyed soul, the record enjoyed a "generally favourable reception".


title: The Proclaimers

text: The Proclaimers toured the United States in April 2013, performing as an acoustic duo once again. That summer, the duo toured music festivals in the UK and Canada.


title: The Proclaimers

text: A third compilation, "", was released on 9 July 2013. Peaking at No. 80 on the UK Albums Chart, the compilation was certified gold in the UK in June 2019.


title: The Proclaimers

text: In 2014, the "Sunshine on Leith" track "Cap in Hand", noted for its nationalist stance, came to prominence in the wake of the Scottish Independence Referendum that September. The song reached No. 6 in Scotland and No. 62 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: The Proclaimers

text: A tenth studio album, "Let's Hear It for the Dogs", was released in April 2015. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales and produced by Dave Eringa. As stated by member Charlie Reid, the decision to have Eringa produce "Let's Hear It for the Dogs" was brought about by an admiration for his work with Manic Street Preachers, and on the Johnson and Daltrey album "Going Back Home".


title: The Proclaimers

text: Their eleventh studio album, "Angry Cyclist", was released in August 2018. Noted for its political lyrics attacking Brexit and the Trump administration, "Angry Cyclist" attracted a favourable reception, "AllMusic"'s Marcy Donelson lauding the record "one of [their] best", and "The Skinny" praising the album-track "Classy" as "lyrical genius".


title: The Proclaimers

text: During "Angry Cyclist's" accompanying promotional tour, they performed in the United Kingdom, Asia, Canada and Australia, to over 400,000 people. The Proclaimers also opened at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival.


title: The Proclaimers

text: In late May 2022, it was revealed on The Proclaimers' official website that the duo would announce a new studio album on 16 June that year, a date that was later put forward until the 30th of that month. On that date, the duo's twelfth album "Dentures Out" was announced for release on 16 September 2022. The news came alongside the release of the album's lead single "The World that Was" and the announcement of Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield's collaboration on the record.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The Reids are passionate fans of Hibernian and the song "Sunshine on Leith" has been adopted as an anthem by the club which plays in that part of Edinburgh.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The brothers are also well-known supporters of Scottish independence and have been activists for the Scottish National Party, expressing such views during their promotional tour of Britain in March 2007.


title: The Proclaimers

text: In 2006, the twins participated in a campaign to free a fellow Scot, Kenny Richey, from his death row sentence in Ohio, United States, including an appearance at a charity concert. In December 2007, Richey accepted a plea bargain, which led to his release from death row and return to Scotland on 9 January 2008. Also, in March 2010 they participated with Billy Bragg in a show at the Electric Palace, Bridport, supporting Reprieve, a charity that seeks to end the use of the death penalty.


title: The Proclaimers

text: Craig Reid has acknowledged 1970s punk rock as a major influence, citing the Clash, the Jam, the Damned and the Sex Pistols as inspirational. On the punk influence, "Stuff New Zealand" remarked that punk bands galvanized the Proclaimers into making "whatever music they liked, in their own way, using their own accents". Other notable influences included 1960s music, such as the Rolling Stones, the Kinks and the Beatles, as well as later acts such as Dexys Midnight Runners, Joy Division, and Bruce Springsteen.


title: The Proclaimers

text: When exploring lyrical influences in a 2012 interview with "The Scotsman", the Proclaimers cited Dexys' Kevin Rowland, The Blockheads' Ian Dury, Joe Strummer of the Clash, the Smiths vocalist Morrissey and Merle Haggard as their "favourite lyricists".


title: The Proclaimers

text: Described by Timothy Monger of "AllMusic" as a "charismatic amalgam", the Proclaimers' style of music incorporates elements of country, folk, new wave, pop, punk rock, rock, rockabilly and soul. Stylistically, the Proclaimers have been typified as alternative folk, alternative rock, Celtic pop, country folk, folk rock, post-punk, rhythm and blues, and roots rock.


title: The Proclaimers

text: The vocals in the Proclaimers' music are characterized by thick Scottish accents. Describing this to "The Courier" in 2018, Craig Reid commented "it was a conscious thing, because we were singing about where we live, our experiences and it just felt stupid to sing in an English or American accent".


title: The Proclaimers

text: Many bands and artists have cited the Proclaimers as an influence or inspiration, including the Balconies, Barenaked Ladies, Belle and Sebastian, Camera Obscura, the Concretes, Jens Lekman, Sondre Lerche, Lonely Dear, Oppenheimer, Peter Bjorn and John and the Weepies.


title: The Proclaimers

text: Recalling feeling an immediate kinship with the Proclaimers after discovering "This Is the Story", Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies commented that "[the album] was perfect for us because it was exactly what we were; two guys with acoustic guitars, singing in harmony. It had all the energy of punk rock but just with acoustic guitars and voices".


title: The Proclaimers

text: Many acts have performed cover versions of Proclaimers songs, including Imagine Dragons, L7, and Todd Rundgren.


title: The Proclaimers

text: "Sunshine on Leith", a stage musical spotlighting the songs of The Proclaimers, was named in renown of the group's second studio album and its title track. The TMAAward-winning musical debuted in 2007, and the film adaptation, starring Peter Mullan and Jane Horrocks, was completed in 2013, grossing over US$4.7 million after debuting at No. 3 in the UK box office.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws (born 27 January 1968), better known by his stage name Tricky, is a British record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Bristol, he began his career as an early member of the band Massive Attack alongside Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall & Andrew Vowles. He embarked on a solo career with his debut album, "Maxinquaye", in 1995. The release won Tricky popular acclaim and marked the beginning of a lengthy collaborative partnership with vocalist Martina Topley-Bird. He released four more studio albums before the end of the decade, including "Pre-Millennium Tension" and the pseudonymous "Nearly God", both in 1996. He has gone on to release nine studio albums since 2000, most recently "Fall to Pieces" (2020). In 2016, he joined Massive Attack on stage for the first time in two decades while continuing his solo career.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky is a pioneer of trip hop music, and his work is noted for its dark, layered musical style that blends disparate cultural influences and genres, including hip hop, alternative rock and ragga. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists over the course of his career, including Terry Hall, Björk, Gravediggaz, Alanis Morissette, Grace Jones and PJ Harvey.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky was born in the Knowle West neighbourhood of Bristol, to a Jamaican father and a mixed-race Anglo-Guyanese mother. His mother, Maxine Quaye, died either by suicide or due to epilepsy complications when Tricky was four. His father, Roy Thaws, operated the Studio 17 sound system (formerly known as "Tarzan the High Priest") with his brother Rupert and father Hector. Bristol musician Bunny Marrett claimed in 2012, "It became the most popular sound system in Bristol at the time."


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky experienced a difficult childhood in Knowle West, an economically deprived area in Southern Bristol. He became involved in crime at an early age, and joined a gang that was involved in car theft, burglary, fights and promiscuity. Tricky spent his youth in the care of his grandmother, who often let him watch old horror films instead of going to school. At the age of 15, he began to write lyrics ("I like to rock, I like to dance, I like pretty girls taking down their pants" "MixMag", 1996). At 17, he spent some time in prison after he purchased forged £50 notes from a friend, who later informed the police. Tricky stated in an interview afterward: "Prison was really good. I'm never going back".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In the mid-1980s, Tricky met DJ Milo and spent time with a sound system called the Wild Bunch, which by 1987 evolved into Massive Attack. He received the nickname "Tricky Kid" and at age eighteen became a member of the Fresh 4, a rap group built from the Wild Bunch. He also rapped on Massive Attack's acclaimed debut album "Blue Lines" (1991).


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In 1991, before the release of Massive Attack's album "Blue Lines", he met Martina Topley-Bird in Bristol. Some time later she came to his house, and mentioned to Tricky and Mark Stewart that she could sing. Martina was only fifteen years old, but her "honey-coated vox" impressed them and they recorded a song called "Aftermath" (although "The Face" '95 mentions that the first song they recorded together was called "Shoebox"). Tricky showed "Aftermath" to Massive Attack, but they were not interested. So in 1993 he decided to press a few hundred vinyl copies of the song. He cut it directly off the tape, so that the song is basically "just bassline and hiss". ("NME" 1994). In 1995, a white label got him a contract with Island Records and he started to record his first solo album, "Maxinquaye".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky left Massive Attack to release his debut album "Maxinquaye", co-produced by himself and Mark Saunders and prominently featuring singer Martina Topley-Bird. The album was successful and Tricky consequently attained international fame, something he was notably uncomfortable with. The "Maxinquaye" album review by "Rolling Stone" read: "Tricky devoured everything from American hip-hop and soul to reggae and the more melancholic strains of '80s British rock".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Authors David Hesmondhalgh and Caspar Melville wrote in the book "Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA": "Tricky showed his debt to hip-hop aesthetics by reconstructualising samples and slices of both the most respected black music (Public Enemy) and the tackiest pop (quoting David Cassidy's "How Can I Be Sure?")." As the "Rolling Stone" article further explained, Tricky created "a mercurial style of dance music that immediately finds own fast feet."


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky failed to complete a number of lyrics for the Massive Attack album "Protection" and gave the band some of the lyrics he had written for "Maxinquaye" instead. Thus, there are songs across the two albums that largely share the same lyrics – entitled "Overcome" and "Hell is 'Round the Corner" on "Maxinquaye" and "Karmacoma", and "Eurochild" on "Protection", respectively. Tricky found it difficult to cope with the huge success of "Maxinquaye" and subsequently eschewed the laid-back soul sound of the first album to create an increasingly edgy and aggressive punk style of music.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In 1996, Neneh Cherry and Björk appeared as guests on his second album "Nearly God". The opening number was a cover of the Siouxsie and the Banshees pre-trip-hop song "Tattoo"


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In 2001, Tricky appeared on the "Thirteen Ghosts" soundtrack with the song "Excess" which (briefly) features Alanis Morissette during two of the choruses. In 2002 that song also appeared on the "Queen of the Damned" soundtrack.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky's studio album "Knowle West Boy" was released in the UK and Ireland in July 2008, and September 2008 in the US. The first single from the album was "Council Estate" and features the artist as the sole vocalist: "It's the first single I've ever done with just me on vocals. I couldn't whisper that song. I had to come out of myself and do a loud, screaming vocal. I wanted to be a proper frontman on that one." In an interview with "The Skinny" in July 2008, Tricky mentioned that "Knowle West Boy" was the first album for which he decided to enlist a co-producer. Ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler was Tricky's initial selection, but, less than enamoured with Butler's technical prowess, Tricky finished the album by totally re-recording all of the material.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: On 8 December 2009, Tricky's 1995 debut album "Maxinquaye" was reissued with a bonus 13-track CD featuring B-sides, outtakes and seven previously unreleased mixes of songs such as "Overcome", "Hell is Round the Corner" and "Black Steel".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In December 2009, the media reported that Massive Attack met Tricky in Paris and asked him to work on a future project—Daddy G said: "Things seem like they've healed between us and Tricky. It's been quite well documented how us and Tricky get on, hasn't it? It's not that well, but things have changed. Things have softened up. We saw Tricky a couple of weeks ago in Paris and it was quite an amicable meeting after five or six years." Tricky agreed to record with the band and he revealed in a June 2013 interview that "there's a couple of songs which are OK, which are really good actually to be honest with you". However, Tricky also stated in June 2013 that he could not spend more than two or three days with Massive Attack and described band member Daddy G as "very arrogant".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky's ninth album "Mixed Race" was released on 27 September 2010 and the first single from the album became available on 23 August. The album includes contributions from Franky Riley, Terry Lynn, Bobby Gillespie, Hamadouche, Blackman and Tricky's youngest brother Marlon Thaws.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In June 2011, Tricky's then label Brownpunk signed on Mexican band My Black Heart Machine for one single, "It Beats Like This", which Tricky co-produced. My Black Heart Machine was then commissioned by the label to cover a song from Maxinquaye for an album of covers by Brownpunk's roster; the band chose "Hell Is Round the Corner". "It Beats Like This" was released independently by the band on their first EP in April 2013.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky produced rapper Omni's album "IamOmni (produced by Tricky)" (released under the moniker "IamOmni") that was available from 30 August 2011 as a free download on Omni's official site.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: On 26 June 2011, Tricky appeared on stage during Beyoncé's headline slot on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury for the track "Baby Boy". Partly the result of technical difficulties with his microphone, he later stated he was "mortified" by his own performance, saying, "I've never been so embarrassed. My body just froze".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In April 2012, Tricky performed "Maxinquaye" with Martina Topley-Bird at several concerts around the UK including, for the first time in several years in his home town of Bristol. The concerts featured regular interruptions orchestrated by Tricky, where he brought his youngest brother, Marlon Thaws to rap on stage alongside other local rappers as well as encouraging the audience to come up on stage. The review of the concert in Manchester said it was "shambolic" and a "car crash" with Tricky often leaving the stage and continuously forgetting his words, leaving Topley Bird to carry the delivery of the tracks, resulting in many leaving early after repeated issues with Tricky's behaviour and shouts of "wanker" from the crowd.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In February 2013, Tricky announced the release of a new album, "False Idols". The album is the follow up from his 2010 "Mixed Race" and featured Peter Silberman, Fifi Rong and Nneka. Tricky released this statement about the album:


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In spring 2014, it was announced that Tricky is to perform at a number of festivals throughout Europe over the summer of 2014, including Control Day Out in Romania, festival Couleur Café in Belgium, Positivus Festival in Latvia and Galtres Parklands Festival in England, the latter of which he co-headlines with contemporaries Morcheeba.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky announced a new album titled "Adrian Thaws" in June 2014. It was released on 8 September 2014. "Skilled Mechanics" was released in January 2016. The same month was released a song Tricky had written with 3D from Massive Attack, on the band's EP Ritual Spirit.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: His thirteenth official studio album, "ununiform", was released on 22 September 2017, and featured collaborations with Asia Argento, Avalon Lurks, and Martina Topley-Bird, as well as a cover of Hole's "Doll Parts".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Blink, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, has acquired Tricky's autobiography. Commissioning Editor Kerri Sharp acquired World rights from K7 Music – the independent music company headquartered in Berlin, where Tricky now lives. The book is currently untitled and will sell as a £20 Hardback in October 2019.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: His EP "20,20" was released on 6 March 2020. It featured the song "Lonely Dancer" recorded with the female singer Anika. She had previously worked with Beak in 2010. Tricky's next album, "Fall to Pieces," was released in September 2020.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In October 2021, Tricky released a new album under the artist name 'Lonely Guest'. The self-titled album featured collaborations with Lee "Scratch" Perry, Idles' frontman Joe Talbot and Maxïmo Park’s Paul Smith.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: By the time "Pre-Millennium Tension" was released in 1996, Tricky was increasingly irritated with the British press, particularly articles written in "The Face" magazine. "The Face" had been an early champion of "Maxinquaye", but saw Tricky as more a duo than a solo project. "The Face" published an article claiming that vocalist Martina Topley-Bird had to single-handedly bring up the child that Tricky had fathered.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky has also been concerned with racial stereotyping of the media. In the documentary "Naked & Famous", he stated that photographers wanted him to frown angrily in photos. He points to a cover of "The Big Issue", where he has a milder look on his face, as being more representative of how he feels. In the song "Tricky Kid" from "Pre-Millennium Tension", he wrote: "As long as you're humble/Let you be the king of jungle".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Throughout his work, he blurs the normally clear gender definitions found in hip-hop. Despite the heavy influence he drew from American hip-hop in his debut album, "Maxinquaye", he fights against typical gender representations by, for example, dressing as a woman on the side sleeve of his album cover. As many of his tracks blend elements of varying types of music creating a difficult-to-define sound, so do his lyrics, creating a more ambiguous and blurry take on gender and sexuality.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky has guest-starred on a number of albums, including an appearance on Live's fifth studio album, "V". This appearance came as Tricky and Live's lead singer Ed Kowalczyk had developed a close friendship, with Kowalczyk contributing vocals to 'Evolution Revolution Love', a track on Tricky's album "Blowback".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky has also acted in various films. He appeared in a significant supporting role in the 1997 Luc Besson film "The Fifth Element", playing the right-hand man "Right Arm" to evil businessman Mr. Zorg.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: He also appears briefly in the 2004 Olivier Assayas film "Clean", playing himself, and had a large role in the music video for "Parabol/Parabola" by Tool. He was also rumoured to have a brief cameo in John Woo's 1997 movie "Face/Off", but has denied that this was the case, although his single "Christiansands" was featured in the movie. Tricky also appeared as Finn, a musician who loves and then dumps main character Lynn, in the US sitcom, "Girlfriends".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: In 2001, Tricky appeared in online advertising for the web series "We Deliver", about a cannabis delivery service in New York City. Though he did not appear in any episodes, in the advertising it appears as if he is a customer of the service.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: The launch of a record label entitled "Brown Punk" was announced in mid-2007 that was a collaboration between Tricky and former Island Records executive Chris Blackwell. At the time, Tricky said: "Brown Punk represents a positive movement where you find intellectuals mixing with the working class, rock mixing with reggae and indie mixing with emo." The Dirty, The Gospel, Laid Blak Mexican band My Black Heart Machine were acts that were signed to the label, but as of October 2013, the label appears to be inactive.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky has stated that he has "been through a lot... I've been moved around from family to family, never stayed in one house from when I was born to the age of 16. ...I'm not normal. It's got a lot to do with my upbringing...Staying somewhere for three years then going off for three years. My uncles being villains. All that stuff. I've got quite a dysfunctional family...for some reason, in my family, the mothers always give the kids to the grandmothers".


title: Tricky (musician)

text: He was in a brief relationship with Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk in the 1990s. When asked in mid-2013 about the time the pair spent together, Tricky stated: "I wasn't good for Björk. I wasn't healthy for her. I feel she was really good to me, she gave me a lot of love and she really was a good person to me. I think she cared about me, right?" He was also briefly married to Carmen Ejogo in early 1998 in Las Vegas.


title: Tricky (musician)

text: Tricky fathered a daughter, Mina Mazy, on 19 March 1995 with Martina Topley-Bird, a musician he discovered when she was sitting on a wall near his Bristol home. Mina struggled with depression and took her own life on 8 May 2019. Following her death, Tricky stated "It feels like I’m in a world that doesn’t exist, knowing nothing will ever be the same again. No words or text can really explain, my soul feels empty."


title: Youri Tielemans

text: Youri Marion A. Tielemans (born 7 May 1997) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Leicester City and the Belgium national team.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: Tielemans began his career at Anderlecht, where he made 185 official appearances and scored 35 goals across four seasons. He won the league title twice and in 2017 was chosen as the Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year. He is the youngest Belgian to play in the UEFA Champions League, making his debut in the competition at the age of 16 years and 148 days. After two years at Monaco in Ligue 1, he joined Leicester in 2019, initially on loan and then for an estimated fee of £32 million. He scored the only goal of the 2021 FA Cup Final.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: Tielemans represented Belgium at several youth levels and before gaining his first cap for the national team in November 2016, aged 19. He was part of the squad that came third at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, also featuring at UEFA Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: Tielemans is a youth product of Anderlecht and signed his first professional contract with the club at the age of 16.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: On 21 July 2013, he was included in the senior squad for the first time, remaining an unused substitute in the 1–0 win over Genk in the 2013 Belgian Super Cup. On 28 July 2013, he made his first-team debut in the opening round of the Belgian Pro League season against Lokeren, replacing injured Sacha Kljestan after 25 minutes of a 2–3 home loss. This made him the fourth-youngest player in the league's history.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: On 2 October 2013, he became the youngest Belgian player to play in the UEFA Champions League, starting in a match against Olympiacos at the age of 16 years and 148 days. He played 29 games – of which 21 starts – as Anderlecht won the 2013–14 Belgian Pro League, scoring to open a 3–0 win over Club Brugge at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium on 6 April 2014, a game in which he also assisted Cyriac. Tielemans won the Belgian Young Player of the Year award in each of his first two seasons.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: Tielemans scored 13 times in 37 Belgian First Division A matches as Anderlecht won the 2016–17 Belgian First Division A. He won the 2017 Ebony Shoe Award for best player of African origin, and was named 2016–17 Belgian Professional Footballer of the Year. He scored 5 goals in 15 2016–17 UEFA Europa League matches, with his club reaching the quarter-finals, and was selected in its Squad of the Season.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: On 24 May 2017, Tielemans joined 2016–17 Ligue 1 champions Monaco on a five-year deal for a fee of around €25 million. He made his competitive debut on 29 July in the Trophée des Champions at the Grand Stade de Tanger, playing the full 90 minutes in the 2–1 loss to Paris Saint-Germain and assisting Djibril Sidibé's opening goal. On 4 August, Tielemans made his Ligue 1 debut in the 3–2 home win over Toulouse, coming on as a substitute for Radamel Falcao in the 87th minute. He made his UEFA club competition debut for Monaco on 13 September in the UEFA Champions League group match away to RB Leipzig, playing the full 90 minutes and registering his first competitive goal for Monaco by equalizing in a 1–1 draw. On 16 September, Tielemans made his first Ligue 1 start and played the entire match in the 3–0 home win over Strasbourg, after having played a total of 56 minutes as a substitute in his first four Ligue 1 matches.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: "France Football" named Tielemans in their lists of the biggest flops of the first half of the season and the season overall. He scored his first Ligue 1 goal in his 31st game on 2 September 2018, in a 3–2 home loss to Olympique de Marseille.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: On 31 January 2019, Tielemans joined Premier League club Leicester City on loan until the end of the season, with Adrien Silva going the other way in a swap deal. On 9 March, Tielemans scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 win over Fulham.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: On 8 July 2019, Tielemans completed a permanent move to Leicester City, on a four-year deal for an estimated fee of £32 million. He scored in a 3–1 home win over Bournemouth on 31 August, but courted controversy with a high challenge on Callum Wilson that escaped punishment even after consultation with the video assistant referee; referees' chief Mike Riley ruled that this was an incorrect decision and Tielemans should have been sent off.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: On 15 May 2021, Tielemans scored the only goal of the 2021 FA Cup Final with a long-range strike against Chelsea in the 63rd minute, sealing Leicester's first ever FA Cup title. He was named the man of the match.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: In June 2015, Tielemans was called up to the senior Belgium squad for a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier against Wales. He finally made his senior international debut on 9 November 2016, in a 1–1 friendly away draw to rival Netherlands, replacing Steven Defour in the 82nd minute.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: Tielemans was included in manager Roberto Martínez's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. He played four matches in the tournament, including the 2–0 win over England in the third-place match.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: Tielemans scored his first senior goal for Belgium on 21 March 2019, in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying match against Russia. He was called up for the delayed final tournament in May 2021.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: Tielemans began as a holding midfielder, but was moved by Anderlecht manager Besnik Hasi to a more attacking role, where he scored long-range goals and was compared to Frank Lampard and Axel Witsel. A 2015 profile by Sky Sports noted his versatility as a defensive or attacking midfielder, concluding that his pace, passing and shot power suited the latter role better. Paul Van Himst, a former Anderlecht and Belgium player, noted at the same time that Tielemans had good skills with long passes.


title: Youri Tielemans

text: Tielemans was born in Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Flemish Brabant. His father is of Flemish descent and his mother is of Congolese descent. He continued education until the age of 18, combining studies with his professional career. He lives in the Leicestershire village of Quorn with his wife, Mendy, and their two daughters, Melina and Leana.


title: Say Anything...

text: Say Anything... is a 1989 American teen romantic comedy drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe (in his feature directorial debut). The film follows the romance between Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), an average student, and Diane Court (Ione Skye), the class valedictorian, immediately after their graduation from high school.


title: Say Anything...

text: "Say Anything..." was theatrically released in the United States on April 14, 1989, by 20th Century Fox. The film received positive reviews from critics. In 2002, "Entertainment Weekly" ranked "Say Anything..." as the greatest modern movie romance, and it was ranked number 11 on "Entertainment Weekly" list of the 50 best high school movies.


title: Say Anything...

text: At the end of their senior year of high school, noble underachiever Lloyd Dobler falls for valedictorian Diane Court and plans to ask her out, though they belong to different social groups.


title: Say Anything...

text: Lloyd's parents are stationed in Germany for the Army, so he lives with his sister Constance, a single mother, and has no plans yet for his future. Diane comes from a sheltered academic upbringing, living with her doting divorced father Jim, who owns the retirement home where she works. She will take up a prestigious fellowship in Britain at the end of the summer.


title: Say Anything...

text: Lloyd offers to take Diane to their graduation party. She agrees, to everyone's surprise. Their next "date" is a dinner at Diane's, where Lloyd fails to impress Jim, and the Internal Revenue Service informs the latter he is under scrutiny.


title: Say Anything...

text: Diane introduces Lloyd to the retirement home residents and he teaches her to drive her manual-transmission Ford Tempo graduation gift. They grow closer and become intimate, to her father's concern. Lloyd's musician best friend Corey, who has never gotten over her cheating ex-boyfriend, Joe, warns him to take care of Diane.


title: Say Anything...

text: Jim urges Diane to break up with Lloyd, feeling he is not an appropriate match, and suggests she give Lloyd a pen as a parting gift. Worried about her father, Diane tells Lloyd she wants to stop seeing him and concentrate on her studies, giving him the pen. Devastated, he seeks advice from Corey, who tells him to "be a man". Meanwhile, Jim discovers his credit cards are declined as the investigation drags on.


title: Say Anything...

text: At dawn, Lloyd plays "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel, which was playing when they became intimate, on a boombox, standing under her open bedroom window. The next day, Diane meets with the IRS investigator, who says they have evidence incriminating Jim with embezzling funds from his retirement-home residents. He suggests she accept the fellowship as matters with her father will worsen.


title: Say Anything...

text: Diane finds the cash concealed at home and confronts Jim, who tells her he took it to give her financial independence. Jim feels justified in doing so as he provided better care of his residents than their families. Distraught, she reconciles with Lloyd at his kick-boxing gym.


title: Say Anything...

text: At the end of summer, Jim is incarcerated on a 9-month sentence. Lloyd visits him at the prison, saying he is going with Diane to Britain; Jim reacts with anger. Lloyd gives him a letter from Diane, but she arrives to say goodbye and they embrace. She gives him the pen she gave Lloyd, asking him to write to her in Britain. Lloyd comforts Diane, who is afraid of flying, on their flight.


title: Say Anything...

text: Jennifer Connelly and Ione Skye vied for the role of Diane Court, but Skye was cast. Robert Downey Jr. was offered the role of Lloyd Dobler, but turned it down. Christian Slater and Kirk Cameron were also considered for the role. Dick Van Dyke and Richard Dreyfuss were considered for the role of Jim Court.


title: Say Anything...

text: Allmusic wrote that the soundtrack, like the film, is "much smarter than the standard teen fare of the era." The soundtrack consists of these songs:


title: Say Anything...

text: "Chicago Sun-Times" film critic Roger Ebert called "Say Anything..." "one of the best films of the year—a film that is really about something, that cares deeply about the issues it contains—and yet it also works wonderfully as a funny, warmhearted romantic comedy." He later included it in his 2002 Great Movie list, writing, ""Say Anything" exists entirely in a real world, is not a fantasy or a pious parable, has characters who we sort of recognize, and is directed with care for the human feelings involved."


title: Say Anything...

text: The film also had detractors. "Variety" called it a "half-baked love story, full of good intentions but uneven in the telling." But, the review also said the film's "[a]ppealing tale of an undirected army brat proving himself worthy of the most exceptional girl in high school elicits a few laughs, plenty of smiles and some genuine feeling." In a mixed review, Caryn James of "The New York Times" wrote:


title: Say Anything...

text: [The film] resembles a first-rate production of a children's story. Its sense of parents and the summer after high school is myopic, presented totally from the teenagers' point of view. Yet its melodrama—Will Dad go to prison? Will Diane go to England?—distorts that perspective, so the film doesn't have much to offer an actual adult, not even a sense of what it's truly like to be just out of high school these days. The film is all charming performances and grace notes, but there are plenty of worse things to be.


title: Say Anything...

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The website's consensus reads, "One of the definitive Generation X movies, "Say Anything" is equally funny and heartfelt—and it established John Cusack as an icon for left-of-center types everywhere." On Metacritic the film has a score of 85% based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "Universal acclaim". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.


title: Say Anything...

text: The film features one of the most culturally recognizable scenes in American movie history, in which John Cusack holds a boombox above his head outside Diane's bedroom window to let her know that he has not given up on her. Crowe and producer James L. Brooks believed the scene could become a hallmark of the movie, though Crowe found it difficult to film because Cusack felt it was "too passive". The scene was first scored with Fishbone's "Question of Life", but after viewing the scene, Crowe opted to replace it with Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" to better fit the mood that he wished to convey. Gabriel initially turned down Crowe because he confused the film with another film in production at the time, a John Belushi biography called "Wired".


title: Say Anything...

text: "That scene is like Romeo under the trellis," said Crowe reminiscing about the iconic scene. "But I have this feeling when I watch it that it's filled with double emotion – both with the story and the actors, whose own trepidation bleeds in."


title: Say Anything...

text: A television series based on the movie was planned by NBC and 20th Century Fox, but producers Aaron Kaplan and Justin Adler did not know that Crowe had not approved of the project. When they found out his views, the show was dropped.


title: Ra.One

text: Ra.One is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language superhero film directed by Anubhav Sinha. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan in double roles and Arjun Rampal as the titular antagonist, with Kareena Kapoor, Armaan Verma, Shahana Goswami, Tom Wu, Dalip Tahil and Satish Shah in supporting roles. The script, written by Sinha and Kanika Dhillon, originated as an idea that Sinha got when he saw a television commercial and which he subsequently expanded. The film follows Shekhar Subramanium (Khan), a game designer who creates a motion sensor-based game with an immensely powerful virtual character Ra.One as the antagonist who is designed to be more powerful than the protagonist of the game, G.One (also played by Khan). The former escapes from the game's virtual world and enters the real world; his aim is to kill Lucifer, the game ID of Shekhar's son and the only player to have challenged Ra.One's power. Relentlessly pursued, the family is forced to bring out G.One from the virtual world to defeat Ra.One and protect them.


title: Ra.One

text: Principal photography began in March 2010 and took place in India and the United Kingdom and was overseen by an international crew. The post-production involved 3-D conversion and the application of visual effects, the latter being recognised as a technological breakthrough among Indian films. With a budget of , inclusive of publicity costs, "Ra.One" was the most expensive Indian film at the time of release surpassing the budget of "Enthiran" (2010). The producers spent , including a marketing budget, which involved a nine-month publicity campaign, brand tie-ups, merchandise, video games and viral marketing.


title: Ra.One

text: The film faced controversies involving plagiarism, content leaks and copyright challenges. Consequently, "Ra.One" was theatrically released on 24 October 2011, the beginning of the five-day Diwali weekend, in 2D, 3D and dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu languages, with three international premieres being held between 24 & 26 October 2011. The film witnessed the largest international theatrical release for an Indian film as of 2011 and was preceded by the high audience and commercial expectations.


title: Ra.One

text: Upon release, "Ra.One" received mixed to positive reviews, with critics praising the visual effects, action sequences, direction, music, and the performances of Khan and Rampal, but criticising the script and screenplay. Commercially, the film became the third highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2011 domestically, the second highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2011 worldwide, and broke a number of opening box office records. The film earned more than ₹207 crores worldwide and was commercially successful. The film subsequently won a number of awards for its technical aspects, notably one National Film Award, one Filmfare Award and four International Indian Film Academy Awards.


title: Ra.One

text: In 2010, London, Jenny Nair, an employee of UK-based company Barron Industries, introduces a new technology that allows objects from the digital world to enter the real world using the wireless transmissions from multiple devices. Shekhar Subramanium, who also works for the company, is given a final chance to devise with a video game with a difference. To impress his sceptical son Prateek, and upon the request of his wife Sonia, Subramanium uses his son's idea that the antagonist be more powerful than the protagonist.


title: Ra.One

text: Shekhar's colleague Akashi provides the moves of the game's characters, Jenny does the programming and Shekhar gives his face to the game's protagonist G.One, whilst the antagonist Ra.One is faceless and has substantially greater powers than those granted to G.One, including shapeshifting. Ra.One is imbibed with a self-learning artificial intelligence. The game has three levels, and either of the players can only be killed in the third level using a special gun that holds a single bullet. While designing the game, Akashi notices some malfunctions but ignores them. When the game is finally launched, it receives a standing ovation and Prateek loves it so much that he insists on playing it instantly. He logs in under the alias 'Lucifer' and proceeds to the second level, but is interrupted by Akashi. The self-aware Ra.One, being unable to end his turn with Lucifer, becomes determined that Lucifer shall die. When the mainframe fails to shut down, Akashi calls Shekhar, who notices a problem with the game. Ra.One uses the new technology to enter the real world and breaks free and goes to find Lucifer.


title: Ra.One

text: Ra One first threatens Akashi and asks him where Lucifer is. When Akashi fails to reply, Ra One abruptly abducts and murders him. After Shekhar finds the dead Akashi, he rushes home; however, he is found by Ra.One. In an attempt to save his son, Shekhar claims that he is Lucifer. However, Ra.One scans Shekhar's I.D. and, discovering he has lied, kills him. Prateek notices the strange circumstances of his father's death and realises that Ra.One has come to life. He and Jenny attempt to bring G.One to life. Meanwhile, Sonia tells Prateek that the family will return to India. Having taken the form of Akashi, Ra.One chases them, but G.One enters the real world through Jenny's computer and causes a gas explosion which saves them and temporarily destroys Ra.One. G.One takes Ra.One's H.A.R.T., without which Ra.One is weakened. Sonia finds she cannot leave G.One and takes him along with them to India through Shekhar's passport. G.One promises Sonia that he will protect Prateek from any harm. Ra.One returns to life, takes the form of a billboard model, and tracks G.One and Prateek.


title: Ra.One

text: During Prateek's birthday party, Ra.One hypnotises Sonia, assumes her form and kidnaps Prateek. Ra.One then instructs G.One to give him his H.A.R.T. back, and sends the real Sonia in an uncontrollable Mumbai Suburban Railway train. G.One saves Sonia just in the nick of time (though the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is destroyed) and returns to save Prateek. The game resumes, with Prateek controlling G.One's moves. Following a lengthy fight, both of the characters reach the third level. With little power left, G.One and Prateek trick Ra.One into shooting G.One without his H.A.R.T. attached, which leaves Ra.One helpless. Furious, Ra.One creates ten copies of himself. Prateek, unable to differentiate the real Ra.One, asks G.One to quote one of Shekhar's sayings: "If you join the forces of evil, its shadows shall always follow you". The pair then realise that only one of the ten Ra.Ones has a shadow: the original one. G.One shoots and destroys him, and after absorbing Ra.One's remains, transports himself back into the digital world.


title: Ra.One

text: Several months later, Prateek and Sonia return to the UK, where Prateek finally manages to restore G.One to the real world, much to his and his mother's joy.


title: Ra.One

text: Additionally, Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt appears in cameos as "Desi Girl" and "Khal Nayak" respectively. Suresh Menon appears as the Taxi-Driver and Delnaaz Irani as the school teacher aboard the hijacked train. Amitabh Bachchan provides the voiceover for the introduction sequence of the game 'Ra.One' in the film. The character Chitti, played by Rajinikanth, from "Enthiran" appears in the film. The character is computer-generated and not played by the actor himself.


title: Ra.One

text: Khan was the first actor to be cast in the film. Three actors had initially been considered for the lead female role; Kapoor was ultimately chosen because she insisted on playing the part. Rampal accepted the role of Ra.One after Sinha expressed a strong desire to cast him in the film. Wu was contracted to the film in July 2010, and Goswami was cast one month later. Bachchan agreed to be a part of the film after being requested by Khan and Sinha. Several cast members prepared extensively for their roles; Rampal and Kapoor followed special diets to lose weight, Khan and Verma performed their own stunts, and Kapoor subsequently did so as well despite initial reluctance.


title: Ra.One

text: The cast encountered problems during production, Khan faced difficulties with his superhero suit and prosthetic makeup, and injured his left knee. The decision to cast Rampal was met with scepticism due to "questionable acting abilities", a statement Sinha criticised. In addition, Rampal encountered back problems (which were treated by the time production began), prompting speculation of a possible replacement by Vivek Oberoi. Jackie Chan had initially been approached for the role of Aakaashi, but he declined the offer. Rajnikanth suffered from health problems which caused a delay in the filming of his cameo appearance. Dutt faced a scheduling conflict with "Agneepath" (2012), which was later resolved.


title: Ra.One

text: According to director Anubhav Sinha, the idea of "Ra.One" originated in 2005 when he saw an advertisement on television which showed children remotely controlling a human. He was attracted to the concept and wrote a script based on it. Sinha then approached Khan, who liked the story and decided to produce the film under his production company Red Chillies Entertainment. Sinha wasn't sure about retaining Khan's support after the former's previous film "Cash" (2007) became a commercial failure, but Khan reportedly "remained unchanged".


title: Ra.One

text: Shahrukh Khan felt that the film possessed significant commercial potential, in addition to being a fulfilment of his "childhood dream" to be a superhero and to fly. He stated that he wanted to "make a film that gives me the right to deserve the iconic status that I've got for 20 years." He also said that he wanted to make a film dedicated to father-son relationships, which were, in his opinion, "neglected" in Bollywood. Khan's idea was to make a simple family drama which expanded into an action film. He declined to make the film in English to increase its appeal for Western audiences, feeling that "cracking Hollywood on their terms" was unnecessary. Both Khan and Sinha credited their children for providing encouragement, and regularly "approving" the film's execution.


title: Ra.One

text: Red Chillies Entertainment continued to work on other projects before finalising the production aspects of "Ra.One". After providing the visual effects for "My Name Is Khan" (2010), the studio focused solely on "Ra.One" and did not take up any other films. Khan initially approached a number of directors to helm the film, including Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar, but they declined; eventually, Sinha was made the film's director. To prepare the film's premises and characterisation, Sinha spent several months viewing video clips, digital art portals and comic books. Sinha and Khan also watched around 200 superhero films from all over the world. The storyboards were designed by Atul Chouthmal, who was contracted after he met Khan at Yash Raj Studios. While the former began work on the storyboards, the producers hired a storyboard artist from Hollywood. Chouthmal revealed that Khan and the other artist differed on their visions of the film, and so he was brought back. Before filming, Khan reportedly took tips from actor Kamal Haasan regarding the production of large-scale films, having been impressed by Haasan's "Dasavathaaram" (2008).


title: Ra.One

text: The title of the film received significant media attention due to it being the name of the antagonist rather than the protagonist. The move was considered innovative, and noted as a sign of the "rising importance of the villain in Bollywood." According to Sinha, the title had not been planned as such, and was ultimately chosen because "Ra.One" "sounded cooler" than "G.One". Khan was advised to name the film after his own character; he declined to do so, citing the inter-dependence between good and evil. He also called Alfred Hitchcock as his inspiration, and pointed out that the antagonists in films like "Sholay", "Mr. India" and "Sadak" were better remembered than the protagonists.


title: Ra.One

text: The crew of "Ra.One" featured both Indian and overseas personnel. Nicola Pecorini served as the director of photography, with V. Manikandan providing assistance. Andy Gill and Spiro Razatos were hired as the stunt supervisors, and Nino Pansini was hired as the stunt cinematographer. Sabu Cyril and Marcus Wookey were responsible for the production design. The film's producer was Bobby Chawla, but Gauri Khan later stepped in after the former suffered a brain haemorrhage. Filming took place at a number of studios, notably Filmistan Studios, Film City and Yash Raj Studios in India and the Black Hangar Studios in the UK.


title: Ra.One

text: Principal photography was initially set to begin in Miami, but the idea was abandoned due to budget constraints. The first phase of filming began in Goa on 21 March 2010 and continued until May. The second and third phases took place in London with the entire cast, beginning in July 2010 and ending in August. The next phase was split into two schedules; the first schedule commenced at Filmistan Studios in the first week of September 2010, while the second schedule began in December 2010 and took place over a seven-day period. The remaining portions were filmed in July 2011 at Film City. A cameo appearance and a music video were filmed in the weeks leading up to the release, the former at the Whistling Woods Studios in Mumbai.


title: Ra.One

text: "Ra.One" featured three major action sequences, which were filmed in sets and real locations across Mumbai and London. The cinematography borrowed ideas from video games, such as rapid transitions between first-person and third-person perspectives. Procedures such as bullet time were also incorporated into the film. The production design was closely associated with the lighting and cinematography to facilitate smooth filming. However, filming faced a number of difficulties including increasing costs, delays and safety constraints. In addition, differences between Khan and Sinha caused tensions on the sets.


title: Ra.One

text: As with the filming crew, the post-production crew of the film included both Indian and overseas personnel. Prime Focus carried out the film's 3-D conversion, with London-based colorist Richard Fearon performing the colour grading. Red Chillies VFX partnered with a number of visual effects studios around the world, and undertook the incorporation of the visual effects under the supervision of Jeffrey Kleiser. Nvidia provided the information technology–based software utilised for the effects, while Edwark Quirk supervised over the computer-generated imagery used in the film. Resul Pookutty was responsible for the film's sound design.


title: Ra.One

text: The idea for converting the film to 3-D was put forth during filming, and was implemented in July 2011 due to a revived interest in 3-D films. The process required 2,600 artists to convert 4,400 shots of the film. The sound design involved bridging the real and the virtual world, and the required sound enhancements were achieved by using the Dolby Surround 7.1 system. Incorporating the visual effects began in April 2010, and was preceded by extensive research. 1,200 artists worked for 2 years to complete the visual effects work. A number of complex procedures were executed, including cubical transformations and the design of the faceless form of Ra.One.


title: Ra.One

text: Despite precautions, the post-production faced significant delays owing to the digital inter-mediation, increased work-load due to the 3-D and dubbed versions of the film, and delays in the completion of the visual effects. The post-production also faced budget constraints and witnessed an overuse of CGI according to the cinematographer. The delays left only two days for printing the film and sending it to theatres, generating significant anxiety over a possible delay in the release. Khan subsequently kept strict tabs on the progress of work, and postponed his knee surgery to complete the film on time.


title: Ra.One

text: The bodysuits worn by Khan and Rampal were designed by Robert Kurtzman and Tim Flattery, and made by a team of specialists based in Los Angeles. Sinha spent around three months conceptualising the costumes, watching various superhero films to design a costume not created already. He then wrote a 23-page document with his sketches and details of what he wanted and gave it to the designers to work upon. To create the suit, Khan was required to enter a small chamber where a warm latex-like liquid was released up to his neck and allowed to solidify, forming the mould which was then peeled off his body. The suit was joined by a concealed zipper and subsequently modified. Computer-generated embellishments such as light beams and electricity were added to the suits after Khan expressed dissatisfaction with the initial rushes of the film. A total of 21 costumes were made for the film, with each suit reportedly costing .


title: Ra.One

text: Khan's suit was made of reinforced latex, coloured steel-blue and fitted with micro-computer circuitry. Rampal's suit was made of three-inch thick solid rubber, and was red in colour. Both actors were required to wear additional suits inside their body suits to prevent skin contact. Wearing the suits created a number of difficulties for the actors. It took 20 minutes to put on the suits and 40 minutes to remove them. In addition, the non-porous nature of the suits created intense heat inside, causing excessive perspiration despite the presence of special air conditioning ducts. Khan later felt that the suits' conception had been a mistake since filming occurred during the day; digital adjustments to the suits brought "all the efforts to naught".


title: Ra.One

text: Manish Malhotra designed the look and the costume of Kareena Kapoor for the song "Chammak Challo", which received widespread media coverage. Kapoor wore a red "sari" draped in the style of a "dhoti". Since the release of the song, the costume was termed a "fashion rage", becoming popular in India and some overseas countries. Fashion experts applauded the costume and Kapoor's ability to carry it off "stunningly", though certain experts dismissed the naming of the "sari" colour.


title: Ra.One

text: The soundtrack of "Ra.One" was composed by Vishal–Shekhar, with the lyrics being written by Atahar Panchi, Vishal Dadlani and Kumaar. A. R. Rahman provided the background score for a single sequence. Sinha announced that R&B singer Akon and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra would be a part of the soundtrack; the former lent his vocals for "Chammak Challo" and "Criminal", while the latter performed in "Bhare Naina". The composers obtained the official license to use Ben E. King's "Stand By Me", on which they based the song "Dildaara". The soundtrack contains fifteen tracks, including seven original songs, four remixes, three instrumentals and an international version of "Chammak Challo". The music rights were bought by T-Series for . The Hindi version of the soundtrack was released on 21 September 2011; the Tamil version was released on 5 October 2011 and Telugu version was released on 9 October 2011 respectively, featuring six tracks each.


title: Ra.One

text: In India, the Hindi version of "Ra.One" was released across more than 4,000 plus screens worldwide- 3,100 screens in 2,100 theatres, breaking the record for the widest Bollywood release previously held by "Bodyguard" (2011). The Tamil and Telugu versions were released on 275 prints and 125 prints respectively. A week before the release, multiplex owners throughout India decided to allot 95% of the total available screen space to the film. Overseas, "Ra.One" was released in 904 prints. This including 600 prints in Germany, 344 prints in the US, 200–300 prints in South Korea, 202 prints in the UK, 79 prints in the Middle East, 75 prints in Russia, 51 prints in Australia, 49 prints in Canada and 25 prints in New Zealand and Taiwan. In early October 2011, a partnership deal was being finalised by the distributors to allow the film to be released in China across 1,000 prints. In addition, the film was released in Pakistan and non-traditional territories like Brazil, Spain, Italy, Greece and Hong Kong. The 3D version was released in 550 screens across the world. "Ra.One" was noted for the extensive use of digital prints, reportedly making up 50–60% of the total release; in India, the film was exhibited in over 1,300 digital theatres, breaking the record previously held by "Bodyguard". The wide digital release was implemented to lower distribution costs, make the film accessible to a wider audience and reduce piracy. Despite the measures taken, pirated versions of "Ra.One" were available on the Internet within hours of the film's release.


title: Ra.One

text: The producers of "Ra.One" spent out of a marketing budget, of this was utilised for internet promotions alone. The film's first theatrical poster was released in December 2010, and was followed by the release of two teaser trailers during the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. The first theatrical trailer premiered three months later. Khan and Sinha undertook a multi-city tour during which they unveiled a 3,600 feet-long piece of fan mail to collect audience messages. The official website of "Ra.One" was launched on 31 May 2011, and an official YouTube channel for the film was subsequently unveiled. On 20 October 2011, Khan held a live chat with fans on Google Plus, the first time an Indian film personality had done so. Rampal's look in the film, which had been kept secret, was revealed in late October 2011.


title: Ra.One

text: The film's marketing utilised merchandise and games to facilitate the creation of a franchise. Khan marketed merchandise related to the film, which included toys, tablets and apparel. On 14 October 2011, a gaming tournament featuring games like "Call of Duty" was conducted in Mumbai and telecast live on YouTube. Red Chillies Entertainment partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to create "Ra.One – "The Game"", a game for PlayStations which was released on 5 October 2011. The producers further collaborated with UTV Indiagames to design a social game titled "Ra.One Genesis", with an independent plot based on G.One, in addition to designing digital comics based on the film's characters.


title: Ra.One

text: In May 2011, the first rushes of "Ra.One" were shown to the cast of Khan's other home production "Always Kabhi Kabhi" (2011). Subsequently, the film was screened for test audiences to study and gauge the film's appeal across different age groups. A few days prior to the theatrical release, Khan arranged a special screening of the film's final cut in Yash Raj Studios, where he invited close friends, his family and the film's crew. Between 24 and 26 October 2011, "Ra.One" had international premieres in Dubai, London and Toronto, all of which were chosen due to their international significance and large South Asian populations. The premiere in Dubai was held on 24 October 2011 at the Grand Cinemas, Wafi. A high-profile dinner and charity auction followed, where Khan raised AED30,000 (approximately US$8,200) to build a workshop for children with special needs. The premiere included three simultaneous screenings of the film, for which tickets were placed on sale for the public. The premiere in London took place at the O Cineworld the following day, and the premiere in Toronto took place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on 26 October 2011.


title: Ra.One

text: "Ra.One" was submitted to the Central Board of Film Certification on 14 October 2011 to receive its viewership rating. The Board raised strong objections to the film's action scenes, fearing that they would influence young children to emulate the stunts. The police and the Indian Railways security force had made similar objections to the train-based stunts in the film, claiming that youngsters would "blindly imitate them" and hence put their lives at risk. The film was finally passed with a 'U' certificate without cuts, but under the condition that prominent disclaimers were shown, stating that the stunts were computer-generated and should not be imitated. The British Board of Film Classification rated the film 12A for "moderate fantasy violence". In March 2012, a "Mid-Day" report alleged that "Ra.One" had received a favourable rating, pointing out that the producers had violated the rules by meeting the Board officials during the screening.


title: Ra.One

text: The film faced allegations of plagiarism with similarities to "" (1991), the "Batman" series, "Iron Man" (2008), "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (2010) and "" (2010). Khan denied the allegations, saying, "I got inspired from a lot of superhero movies but the movie is original. In fact, "Ra.One" will be the first superhero-based movie in the world in which the superhero lives in a family."


title: Ra.One

text: A few days before the release, screenwriter Yash Patnaik claimed that "Ra.One" resembled a concept that he had developed several years before. Patnaik appealed to the Bombay High Court to delay the film's release, until he was given due credit or 10% of the film's overall profit. The court, observing "prima facie" evidence that there had been copyright violations, asked the filmmakers to deposit with the court on 21 October 2011 before releasing the film. Patnaik challenged the court's decision and demanded that the producers give him credit and not cash. Sinha later claimed that he alone had developed the film's story.


title: Ra.One

text: "Ra.One" also faced cybertheft and hacking issues. On 3 June 2011, three days after its launch, the official website of the film was hacked by suspected Pakistani cyber criminals who stated that the act was in revenge for a similar attack on a Karachi press club website. The hackers defaced the homepage and left a note threatening the Indian Press Club. Despite precautions, the song "Chammak Challo" was leaked several months before the official release of the soundtrack. Khan clarified that the leaked song was a "rough version" of the actual song, and that the person responsible for the leak was being looked for. He subsequently refuted claims that the leak had been engineered as a publicity stunt.


title: Ra.One

text: The television broadcasting rights for "Ra.One" were bought by Star India for a then-record sum of , surpassing "3 Idiots" (2009). The Indian television premiere of "Ra.One" took place on 21 January 2012 on STAR Gold, garnering a 28% market sharefor the channel and a TVR of 6.7. Star India subsequently syndicated the television screening rights to Disney XD, where it premiered on 2 June 2012. In May 2012, International Media Distribution announced that "Ra.One" would be televised on Comcast and Cox, as a part of the celebrations of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Discovery Channel tied up with Red Chillies Entertainment to produce a one-hour program titled ""Revealed: The Making of Ra.One"", which aired on the channel on 30 March 2012. The program discussed the making of the film in detail, including the visual effects and the challenges faced while filming.


title: Ra.One

text: Eros International released the DVD of "Ra.One" on 13 December 2011 across all regions in one-disc and two-disc packs complying with the NTSC format. The DVD of the film contained alternate endings. Initially, Khan had wanted to add alternate endings to the theatrical release itself, but later deemed it risky. The DVD version was made interactive as well. VCD and Blu-ray versions of the film were also released.


title: Ra.One

text: The German Blu-ray edition was released on 1 June 2012 by Rapid Eye Movies. On 24 July 2013, French distributor Condor released the film as "Voltage" on 3D Blu-ray. It was released in a SteelBook edition containing the 3D/2D Blu-ray discs and the DVD. The same year, Japanese distributor Maxam released the Blu-ray on 27 September 2013.