title: Plasmid

text: Plasmids almost always carry at least one gene. Many of the genes carried by a plasmid are beneficial for the host cells, for example: enabling the host cell to survive in an environment that would otherwise be lethal or restrictive for growth. Some of these genes encode traits for antibiotic resistance or resistance to heavy metal, while others may produce virulence factors that enable a bacterium to colonize a host and overcome its defences or have specific metabolic functions that allow the bacterium to utilize a particular nutrient, including the ability to degrade recalcitrant or toxic organic compounds. Plasmids can also provide bacteria with the ability to fix nitrogen. Some plasmids, however, have no observable effect on the phenotype of the host cell or its benefit to the host cells cannot be determined, and these plasmids are called cryptic plasmids.


title: Plasmid

text: Naturally occurring plasmids vary greatly in their physical properties. Their size can range from very small mini-plasmids of less than 1-kilobase pairs (kbp) to very large megaplasmids of several megabase pairs (Mbp). At the upper end, little differs between a megaplasmid and a minichromosome. Plasmids are generally circular, but examples of linear plasmids are also known. These linear plasmids require specialized mechanisms to replicate their ends.


title: Plasmid

text: Plasmids may be present in an individual cell in varying number, ranging from one to several hundreds. The normal number of copies of plasmid that may be found in a single cell is called the plasmid copy number, and is determined by how the replication initiation is regulated and the size of the molecule. Larger plasmids tend to have lower copy numbers. Low-copy-number plasmids that exist only as one or a few copies in each bacterium are, upon cell division, in danger of being lost in one of the segregating bacteria. Such single-copy plasmids have systems that attempt to actively distribute a copy to both daughter cells. These systems, which include the parABS system and parMRC system, are often referred to as the partition system or partition function of a plasmid.


title: Plasmid

text: Plasmids may be classified in a number of ways. Plasmids can be broadly classified into conjugative plasmids and non-conjugative plasmids. Conjugative plasmids contain a set of transfer genes which promote sexual conjugation between different cells. In the complex process of conjugation, plasmids may be transferred from one bacterium to another via sex pili encoded by some of the transfer genes (see figure). Non-conjugative plasmids are incapable of initiating conjugation, hence they can be transferred only with the assistance of conjugative plasmids. An intermediate class of plasmids are mobilizable, and carry only a subset of the genes required for transfer. They can parasitize a conjugative plasmid, transferring at high frequency only in its presence.


title: Plasmid

text: Plasmids can also be classified into incompatibility groups. A microbe can harbour different types of plasmids, but different plasmids can only exist in a single bacterial cell if they are compatible. If two plasmids are not compatible, one or the other will be rapidly lost from the cell. Different plasmids may therefore be assigned to different incompatibility groups depending on whether they can coexist together. Incompatible plasmids (belonging to the same incompatibility group) normally share the same replication or partition mechanisms and can thus not be kept together in a single cell.


title: Plasmid

text: Although most plasmids are double-stranded DNA molecules, some consist of single-stranded DNA, or predominantly double-stranded RNA. RNA plasmids are non-infectious extrachromosomal linear RNA replicons, both encapsidated and unencapsidated, which have been found in fungi and various plants, from algae to land plants. In many cases, however, it may be difficult or impossible to clearly distinguish RNA plasmids from RNA viruses and other infectious RNAs.


title: Plasmid

text: Artificially constructed plasmids may be used as vectors in genetic engineering. These plasmids serve as important tools in genetics and biotechnology labs, where they are commonly used to clone and amplify (make many copies of) or express particular genes. A wide variety of plasmids are commercially available for such uses. The gene to be replicated is normally inserted into a plasmid that typically contains a number of features for their use. These include a gene that confers resistance to particular antibiotics (ampicillin is most frequently used for bacterial strains), an origin of replication to allow the bacterial cells to replicate the plasmid DNA, and a suitable site for cloning (referred to as a multiple cloning site).


title: Plasmid

text: DNA structural instability can be defined as a series of spontaneous events that culminate in an unforeseen rearrangement, loss, or gain of genetic material. Such events are frequently triggered by the transposition of mobile elements or by the presence of unstable elements such as non-canonical (non-B) structures. Accessory regions pertaining to the bacterial backbone may engage in a wide range of structural instability phenomena. Well-known catalysts of genetic instability include direct, inverted, and tandem repeats, which are known to be conspicuous in a large number of commercially available cloning and expression vectors. Insertion sequences can also severely impact plasmid function and yield, by leading to deletions and rearrangements, activation, down-regulation or inactivation of neighboring gene expression. Therefore, the reduction or complete elimination of extraneous noncoding backbone sequences would pointedly reduce the propensity for such events to take place, and consequently, the overall recombinogenic potential of the plasmid.


title: Plasmid

text: Plasmids are the most-commonly used bacterial cloning vectors. These cloning vectors contain a site that allows DNA fragments to be inserted, for example a multiple cloning site or polylinker which has several commonly used restriction sites to which DNA fragments may be ligated. After the gene of interest is inserted, the plasmids are introduced into bacteria by a process called transformation. These plasmids contain a selectable marker, usually an antibiotic resistance gene, which confers on the bacteria an ability to survive and proliferate in a selective growth medium containing the particular antibiotics. The cells after transformation are exposed to the selective media, and only cells containing the plasmid may survive. In this way, the antibiotics act as a filter to select only the bacteria containing the plasmid DNA. The vector may also contain other marker genes or reporter genes to facilitate selection of plasmids with cloned inserts. Bacteria containing the plasmid can then be grown in large amounts, harvested, and the plasmid of interest may then be isolated using various methods of plasmid preparation.


title: Plasmid

text: A plasmid cloning vector is typically used to clone DNA fragments of up to 15 kbp. To clone longer lengths of DNA, lambda phage with lysogeny genes deleted, cosmids, bacterial artificial chromosomes, or yeast artificial chromosomes are used.


title: Plasmid

text: Another major use of plasmids is to make large amounts of proteins. In this case, researchers grow bacteria containing a plasmid harboring the gene of interest. Just as the bacterium produces proteins to confer its antibiotic resistance, it can also be induced to produce large amounts of proteins from the inserted gene. This is a cheap and easy way of mass-producing the protein the gene codes for, for example, insulin.


title: Plasmid

text: Plasmids may also be used for gene transfer as a potential treatment in gene therapy so that it may express the protein that is lacking in the cells. Some forms of gene therapy require the insertion of therapeutic genes at pre-selected chromosomal target sites within the human genome. Plasmid vectors are one of many approaches that could be used for this purpose. Zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) offer a way to cause a site-specific double-strand break to the DNA genome and cause homologous recombination. Plasmids encoding ZFN could help deliver a therapeutic gene to a specific site so that cell damage, cancer-causing mutations, or an immune response is avoided.


title: Plasmid

text: Plasmids were historically used to genetically engineer the embryonic stem cells of rats to create rat genetic disease models. The limited efficiency of plasmid-based techniques precluded their use in the creation of more accurate human cell models. However, developments in adeno-associated virus recombination techniques, and zinc finger nucleases, have enabled the creation of a new generation of isogenic human disease models.


title: Plasmid

text: The term "episome" was introduced by François Jacob and Élie Wollman in 1958 to refer to extra-chromosomal genetic material that may replicate autonomously or become integrated into the chromosome. Since the term was introduced, however, its use has changed, as "plasmid" has become the preferred term for autonomously replicating extrachromosomal DNA. At a 1968 symposium in London some participants suggested that the term "episome" be abandoned, although others continued to use the term with a shift in meaning.


title: Plasmid

text: Today, some authors use "episome" in the context of prokaryotes to refer to a plasmid that is capable of integrating into the chromosome. The integrative plasmids may be replicated and stably maintained in a cell through multiple generations, but at some stage, they will exist as an independent plasmid molecule. In the context of eukaryotes, the term "episome" is used to mean a non-integrated extrachromosomal closed circular DNA molecule that may be replicated in the nucleus. Viruses are the most common examples of this, such as herpesviruses, adenoviruses, and polyomaviruses, but some are plasmids. Other examples include aberrant chromosomal fragments, such as double minute chromosomes, that can arise during artificial gene amplifications or in pathologic processes (e.g., cancer cell transformation). Episomes in eukaryotes behave similarly to plasmids in prokaryotes in that the DNA is stably maintained and replicated with the host cell. Cytoplasmic viral episomes (as in poxvirus infections) can also occur. Some episomes, such as herpesviruses, replicate in a rolling circle mechanism, similar to bacteriophages (bacterial phage viruses). Others replicate through a bidirectional replication mechanism ("Theta type" plasmids). In either case, episomes remain physically separate from host cell chromosomes. Several cancer viruses, including Epstein-Barr virus and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, are maintained as latent, chromosomally distinct episomes in cancer cells, where the viruses express oncogenes that promote cancer cell proliferation. In cancers, these episomes passively replicate together with host chromosomes when the cell divides. When these viral episomes initiate lytic replication to generate multiple virus particles, they generally activate cellular innate immunity defense mechanisms that kill the host cell.


title: Plasmid

text: Some plasmids or microbial hosts include an addiction system or postsegregational killing system (PSK), such as the hok/sok (host killing/suppressor of killing) system of plasmid R1 in "Escherichia coli". This variant produces both a long-lived poison and a short-lived antidote. Several types of plasmid addiction systems (toxin/ antitoxin, metabolism-based, ORT systems) were described in the literature and used in biotechnical (fermentation) or biomedical (vaccine therapy) applications. Daughter cells that retain a copy of the plasmid survive, while a daughter cell that fails to inherit the plasmid dies or suffers a reduced growth-rate because of the lingering poison from the parent cell. Finally, the overall productivity could be enhanced.


title: Plasmid

text: In contrast, plasmids used in biotechnology, such as pUC18, pBR322 and derived vectors, hardly ever contain toxin-antitoxin addiction systems, and therefore need to be kept under antibiotic pressure to avoid plasmid loss.


title: Plasmid

text: Yeasts naturally harbour various plasmids. Notable among them are 2 μm plasmids—small circular plasmids often used for genetic engineering of yeast—and linear pGKL plasmids from "Kluyveromyces lactis", that are responsible for killer phenotypes.


title: Plasmid

text: The mitochondria of many higher plants contain self-replicating, extra-chromosomal linear or circular DNA molecules which have been considered to be plasmids. These can range from 0.7 kb to 20 kb in size. The plasmids have been generally classified into to two categories- circular and linear. Circular plasmids have been and found in many different plants, with those in "Vicia faba and Chenopodium album" being the most studied and whose mechanism of replication is known. The circular plasmids can replicate using the θ model of replication (as in "Vicia faba") and through rolling circle replication (as in "C.album"). Linear plasmids have been identified in some plant species such as "Beta vulgaris", "Brassica napus, Zea mays", etc. but are rarer than their circular counterparts.


title: Plasmid

text: The function and origin of these plasmids remains largely unknown. It has been suggested that the circular plasmids share a common ancestor, some genes in the mitochondrial plasmid have counterparts in the nuclear DNA suggesting inter-compartment exchange. Meanwhile, the linear plasmids share structural similarities such as invertrons with viral DNA and fungal plasmids, like fungal plasmids they also have low GC content, these observations have led to some hypothesizing that these linear plasmids have viral origins, or have ended up in plant mitochondria through horizontal gene transfer from pathogenic fungi.


title: Plasmid

text: Plasmids are often used to purify a specific sequence, since they can easily be purified away from the rest of the genome. For their use as vectors, and for molecular cloning, plasmids often need to be isolated.


title: Plasmid

text: There are several methods to isolate plasmid DNA from bacteria, ranging from the miniprep to the maxiprep or bulkprep. The former can be used to quickly find out whether the plasmid is correct in any of several bacterial clones. The yield is a small amount of impure plasmid DNA, which is sufficient for analysis by restriction digest and for some cloning techniques.


title: Plasmid

text: In the latter, much larger volumes of bacterial suspension are grown from which a maxi-prep can be performed. In essence, this is a scaled-up miniprep followed by additional purification. This results in relatively large amounts (several hundred micrograms) of very pure plasmid DNA.


title: Plasmid

text: Many commercial kits have been created to perform plasmid extraction at various scales, purity, and levels of automation.


title: Plasmid

text: Plasmid DNA may appear in one of five conformations, which (for a given size) run at different speeds in a gel during electrophoresis. The conformations are listed below in order of electrophoretic mobility (speed for a given applied voltage) from slowest to fastest:


title: Plasmid

text: The rate of migration for small linear fragments is directly proportional to the voltage applied at low voltages. At higher voltages, larger fragments migrate at continuously increasing yet different rates. Thus, the resolution of a gel decreases with increased voltage.


title: Plasmid

text: At a specified, low voltage, the migration rate of small linear DNA fragments is a function of their length. Large linear fragments (over 20 kb or so) migrate at a certain fixed rate regardless of length. This is because the molecules 'respirate', with the bulk of the molecule following the leading end through the gel matrix. Restriction digests are frequently used to analyse purified plasmids. These enzymes specifically break the DNA at certain short sequences. The resulting linear fragments form 'bands' after gel electrophoresis. It is possible to purify certain fragments by cutting the bands out of the gel and dissolving the gel to release the DNA fragments.


title: Plasmid

text: Because of its tight conformation, supercoiled DNA migrates faster through a gel than linear or open-circular DNA.


title: Plasmid

text: The use of plasmids as a technique in molecular biology is supported by bioinformatics software. These programs record the DNA sequence of plasmid vectors, help to predict cut sites of restriction enzymes, and to plan manipulations. Examples of software packages that handle plasmid maps are ApE, Clone Manager, GeneConstructionKit, Geneious, Genome Compiler, LabGenius, Lasergene, MacVector, pDraw32, Serial Cloner, VectorFriends, Vector NTI, and WebDSV. These pieces of software help conduct entire experiments in silico before doing wet experiments.


title: Plasmid

text: Many plasmids have been created over the years and researchers have given out plasmids to plasmid databases such as the non-profit organisations Addgene and BCCM/LMBP. One can find and request plasmids from those databases for research.


title: Plasmid

text: Researchers also often upload plasmid sequences to the NCBI database, from which sequences of specific plasmids can be retrieved.


title: Tommy Boy

text: Tommy Boy is a 1995 American buddy adventure comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, produced by Lorne Michaels, and starring former "Saturday Night Live" castmates and close friends Chris Farley and David Spade. This was the first of many films that Segal has filmed with former "SNL" castmates. It tells the story of a socially and emotionally immature man (Farley) who learns lessons about friendship and self-worth, following the sudden death of his industrialist father.


title: Tommy Boy

text: The film was shot primarily in Toronto and Los Angeles under the working title "Rocky Road". "Tommy Boy" grossed $32.7 million on a budget of $20 million. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Since its release, "Tommy Boy" has become a cult classic and been successful on home video.


title: Tommy Boy

text: "Tommy Boy" and the 1994 horror film "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" are dedicated to Gregg Fonseca (1952–1994), who died eight months before the release of "Tommy Boy". While Fonseca did not work on either film, he served as production designer on the first two "Nightmare on Elm Street" films, as well as "Coneheads" and both "Wayne's World films" which, like "Tommy Boy", were produced by Lorne Michaels.


title: Tommy Boy

text: After seven years at college, Thomas R. "Tommy" Callahan III barely graduates from Marquette University and returns to his hometown of Sandusky, Ohio. His father, industrialist and widower Thomas R. "Big Tom" Callahan Jr., gives him an executive job at the family's auto parts plant, Callahan Auto. In addition to the new job and office, Big Tom reveals that he plans to marry Beverly Barrish-Burns, a woman he had met at a fat farm, and that her son, Paul, will become Tommy's new stepbrother. However, Big Tom dies from a sudden heart attack during the wedding reception. After the funeral, doubting the future of the company without Big Tom, the bank reneges on promises of a loan for a new brake pad division and seeks immediate payment of Callahan Auto's debts. Tommy suggests a deal: he will let the bank hold his few inherited shares and house in exchange for the bank giving time to sell enough brake pads to prove the new division's viability. If enough brake pads are sold by the deadline, the bank will grant the loan. Tommy then sets out on a cross-country sales trip with Big Tom's scornful assistant, Richard Hayden, a childhood acquaintance who is not only annoyed over Tommy's immaturity and poor work ethic, but believes it was he, Richard, who should have replaced Big Tom as corporate head.


title: Tommy Boy

text: Meanwhile, Beverly and Paul are shown kissing romantically. They are revealed to be not mother and son, but rather married con artists with criminal records. Instead of eventually suing for divorce and taking half of Big Tom's estate, Beverly has inherited controlling interest in the company. To turn that into cash, she seeks a quick sale to self-described "auto parts king" Ray Zalinsky. On the road, Tommy's social anxiety and hyperactivity alienate several potential buyers. The lack of any progress leads to tension between Tommy and Richard. When all hope seems lost, Tommy persuades a surly waitress to serve him after the kitchen has closed and Richard suggests he use his skill at reading people to make sales. The two make amends and quickly reach their sales goal. However, Paul sabotages the company's computers, causing sales posted by sales manager Michelle Brock to be either lost or rerouted. With half of the sales now canceled, the bank (now backed by Beverly and Paul) decides to sell Callahan Auto to Zalinsky. Hoping that they can persuade Zalinsky to reconsider, Tommy and Richard board a plane to Chicago posing as flight attendants. In Chicago, they get a brief meeting with Zalinsky, but he tells them he wants only the reputation connected with the Callahan brand and will close down the company and lay off its workers.


title: Tommy Boy

text: Tommy and Richard are denied entrance to the Zalinsky board room since Tommy has no standing. As they wallow on the curb in self-pity, Michelle arrives with Paul and Beverly's police records. Tommy devises a plan: dressed as a suicide bomber by using road flares, he attracts the attention of a live television news crew and then, along with Michelle and Richard, forces his way back into the board room. Back in Sandusky, Callahan workers watch the drama on television. In a final move of pure persuasion, Tommy quotes Zalinsky's own advertising slogan, that he is on the side of the "American working man." As the television audience watches, Zalinsky signs Tommy's purchase order for 500,000 brake pads. Although Zalinsky says that the purchase order is meaningless as he will soon own Callahan Auto, Michelle shows the police records, which includes Paul's outstanding warrants for fraud. Since Beverly is still married to Paul, her marriage to Big Tom was bigamous and therefore never legal. Thus, all of Big Tom's controlling shares actually belong to Tommy, the rightful heir. Since Tommy does not want to sell the shares, the deal with Zalinsky is off, and since Tommy still holds Zalinsky's purchase order, the company is saved. Paul attempts to escape but is arrested. Zalinsky admits that Tommy outplayed him and invites Beverly to dinner. Tommy is appointed the president of Callahan Auto, becomes friends with Richard, and starts a romance with Michelle.


title: Tommy Boy

text: "Tommy Boy" opened on March 31, 1995, and grossed $8 million in its opening weekend, finishing first at the box office. The film had a total box office gross of $32.7 million.


title: Tommy Boy

text: "Tommy Boy" received mixed reviews from critics upon its release. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 42% approval rating, based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 5.22/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though it benefits from the comic charms of its two leads, "Tommy Boy" too often feels like a familiar sketch stretched thin." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 46 out of 100, based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "Mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A− on scale of A to F.


title: Tommy Boy

text: Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" gave the film a positive review, calling it "sweet natured" and a "good belly laugh of a movie". Brian Webster of the Online Film Critics Society also received the film positively, saying that the film would please Farley fans. Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi of the "Broomfield Enterprise" said the film was "Farley at his best", and Scott Weinberg of DVDTalk.com said that it was "pretty damn funny". In the 2015 film "I Am Chris Farley", many of his fellow "SNL" peers praised Farley's performance; Dan Aykroyd stated that the movie showcased Farley's quality and range as an actor, while Jay Mohr noted that audiences were able to see Farley's sensitive and vulnerable side.


title: Tommy Boy

text: Among the negative reviews, "Chicago Sun-Times" film critic Roger Ebert only gave the film one star out of four, writing that: ""Tommy Boy" is one of those movies that plays like an explosion down at the screenplay factory. You can almost picture a bewildered office boy, his face smudged with soot, wandering through the ruins and rescuing pages at random. Too bad they didn't mail them to the insurance company instead of filming them." The film is on Ebert's "Most Hated" list. Caryn James of "The New York Times" wrote that the film was "the very poor cousin of a dopey Jim Carrey movie". Owen Gleiberman graded the film a "C" on an A+ to F scale, and Ken Hanke of "Mountain Xpress" said that it was a "Passably funny star vehicle. Nothing great."


title: Anees Bazmee

text: Anees Bazmee is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer known for his works in Indian cinema.


title: Anees Bazmee

text: Bazmee did his directorial debut with "Hulchul" in 1995, however his first commercial success in came in 1998 with the film "Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha", one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of the year. He achieved further success as well as recognition by directing the top-grossing comedies including "No Entry" (2005), "Welcome" (2007), "Singh Is Kinng" (2008), "Ready" (2011) and "Welcome Back" (2015), Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022) and also received praise for directing the moderately successful romantic thriller "Deewangee" (2002). His film which he completed in 2004, titled "Naam" was set to released in 2022.


title: American Wedding

text: American Wedding (known as American Pie 3: The Wedding or American Pie: The Wedding, in some countries) is a 2003 American sex comedy film written by Adam Herz and directed by Jesse Dylan. It is the sequel to "American Pie" (1999) and "American Pie 2" (2001), and the third and intended final installment of the "American Pie" theatrical series. This was to be the last film in the franchise, ending it as a trilogy; however, a third theatrical sequel, "American Reunion", was released nine years later, while the franchise expanded into a series of direct-to-DVD standalone sequels, under the umbrella title "American Pie Presents", that began with the release of "" (2005).


title: American Wedding

text: The film's main plot focuses on the wedding ceremony of Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs) and Michelle Flaherty (Alyson Hannigan), while its subplot centers on Steve Stifler (Seann William Scott), and his outrageous antics including his attempt to organize a bachelor party, teaching Jim to dance for the wedding, and competing with Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) to win the heart of Michelle's sister, Cadence (January Jones).


title: American Wedding

text: It is the last film in the series to be written by Herz, who conceptualized the franchise, and also the only theatrical film in the series in which Chris Klein (Oz), Chris Owen (Sherman), Mena Suvari (Heather), Tara Reid (Vicky), Shannon Elizabeth (Nadia) and Natasha Lyonne (Jessica) do not appear.


title: American Wedding

text: Jim Levenstein prepares to propose to Michelle at a restaurant when his dad calls to tell him he has the ring. She misinterprets when Jim stalls the question and his dad arrives as he is receiving fellatio from under the table. The mishap grasps everyone's attention but Jim still proposes and Michelle accepts.


title: American Wedding

text: Jim wishes to exclude Steve Stifler from the wedding, who becomes upset when he finds out. Stifler agrees to teach Jim how to dance if he is allowed at the wedding. Jim asks Stifler to mask his obnoxious personality in exchange for planning the bachelor party.


title: American Wedding

text: Jim, Stifler, Paul Finch, and Kevin Myers travel to Chicago to find the designer who makes the dress Michelle wants. Stifler inadvertently walks into a gay bar, and his initially raucous behavior gets several patrons annoyed. Battling Bear in a dance-off, Stifler is offered strippers by him for the bachelor party. Dress designer Leslie reveals himself and agrees to make the dress for Michelle.


title: American Wedding

text: Michelle's younger sister, Cadence, flies in for the wedding. Both Finch and Stifler are attracted to her, and, trying to win her over, they each act differently. Stifler arranges the bachelor party but does not tell Jim, who unknowingly invited Michelle's parents to dinner in his home. With assistance from Bear, who poses as a butler, Jim nearly succeeds in keeping the bachelor's party a secret, until Michelle's mother opens a closet door to find Kevin inside; blindfolded, stripped to his boxers, and tied to a chair. They explain that it was a failed attempt to make Jim seem like a hero, and Michelle's parents tell him if he puts that much effort into the upcoming marriage, they can give their blessing.


title: American Wedding

text: Michelle is concerned that Jim's paternal grandmother disapproves of the wedding as she is not Jewish. On the night before the wedding, Stifler inadvertently turns off the walk-in refrigerator while getting a bottle of champagne to seduce Cadence, which kills the flowers. Stifler finally reveals his true rude and obnoxious personality. Angry, Jim asks him to leave, and all the others, including Cadence (who has heard him talking about doing her), support Jim's decision.


title: American Wedding

text: Feeling guilty for his thoughtless behavior, Stifler convinces the florist to put together a new batch of flowers, and he enlists the help of his football players and Bear. As a gesture of remorse, he also gives a rose to Cadence. Moved by his actions, she agrees to have sex with him in a supply closet before the ceremony, but Stifler's presence is delayed by a brief meeting Jim calls among his groomsmen, citing how he is grateful to have friends like them.


title: American Wedding

text: Quickly returning to the hotel, Stifler hears someone in the supply closet and steps inside, unaware that Cadence was interrupted by wedding preparations and that Jim's disgruntled grandmother was shoved inside by the ushers, the "MILF guys" from high school. Stifler only realizes this upon walk-in by Finch and Kevin. She becomes pleasant, particularly towards Stifler, making Michelle and Jim's dad happy.


title: American Wedding

text: Despite the chaotic events leading up to it, Michelle and Jim get married. At the reception, the couple dances while Stifler dances with Cadence. Finch sits by himself when Stifler's mom arrives. Although agreeing they are over each other, Stifler's mom mentions having a hotel suite and invites Finch to join her. The film ends with the "MILF guys" (Justin and John) spying on Stifler's mom and Finch having sex in the hot tub.


title: American Wedding

text: The film's soundtrack includes songs by Van Morrison, Blue October, The Working Title, Foo Fighters, Feeder, Avril Lavigne, American Hi-Fi, Sum 41, the All-American Rejects, Joseph Arthur, New Found Glory, and Hot Action Cop. Everclear, Badly Drawn Boy and The Libertines also have songs in the feature. Note that most songs used were already singles. And, this is the first film to feature the song "Laid" (Matt Nathanson covering the band James) in both the trailers and the opening sequence. Notably, it is also the only film in the series to not play the song "Mrs. Robinson" in a scene where Finch has sex with Stifler's mother. It is also the first of the "American Pie" films not to feature the song Anomaly(Calling Your Name), or a song by blink 182.


title: American Wedding

text: The song "Into the Mystic", played at the end of the film when Jim and Michelle take to the dance floor at the reception, begins as Van Morrison's recording, but midway through it changes to The Wallflowers' cover version due to licensing reasons. The band's lead singer Jakob Dylan is the brother of the film's director Jesse Dylan.


title: American Wedding

text: "American Wedding" was released in the United States on August 1, 2003, and opened at #1 with $33,369,440 before dropping 53.7% the next weekend, landing at #3 behind the new releases of "S.W.A.T." and "Freaky Friday". Closing about 3.5 months later (November 20, 2003), the film had grossed a domestic total of $104,565,114 and $126,884,089 overseas for a worldwide total of $231,449,203, based on a $55 million budget. Despite being a huge box office success, it is the lowest-grossing film in the series, making roughly $3 million less than "American Reunion" would in 2012.


title: American Wedding

text: "American Wedding" received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, assigns the film a rating of 54%, based on 155 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Raunchier and even more gross than the first two American Pies, "American Wedding" ought to please fans of the series." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 43 out of 100, based on 34 critics, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".


title: American Wedding

text: Robert Koeler of "Variety" compared it to the works of John Waters and called it a "strong finish" for the franchise. Roger Ebert rated it 3/4 stars and wrote that the film "is proof of the hypothesis that no genre is beyond redemption." Elvis Mitchell of "The New York Times" wrote that the film "struggles so hard to be tasteless that it's almost quaint." Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" rated it 2/5 stars and called it strained and desperate to find jokes.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show "A Prairie Home Companion" (called "Garrison Keillor's Radio Show" in some international syndication), which he hosted from 1974 to 2016. Keillor created the fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, the setting of many of his books, including "Lake Wobegon Days "and "". Other creations include Guy Noir, a detective voiced by Keillor who appeared in "A Prairie Home Companion" comic skits. Keillor is also the creator of the five-minute daily radio/podcast program "The Writer's Almanac", which pairs one or two poems of his choice with a script about important literary, historical, and scientific events that coincided with that date in history.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio cut all business ties with Keillor after an allegation of inappropriate behavior with a freelance writer for "A Prairie Home Companion". On April 13, 2018, MPR and Keillor announced a settlement that allows archives of "A Prairie Home Companion" and "The Writer's Almanac" to be publicly available again, and soon thereafter, Keillor began publishing new episodes of "The Writer's Almanac" on his website.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor was born in Anoka, Minnesota, the son of Grace Ruth ("née" Denham) and John Philip Keillor. His father was a carpenter and postal worker who was half-Canadian with English ancestry; Keillor's paternal grandfather was from Kingston, Ontario. His maternal grandparents were Scottish emigrants from Glasgow. He was the third of six children, with three brothers and two sisters.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor's family belonged to the Plymouth Brethren, an Evangelical Christian movement that he has since left. In 2006, he told "Christianity Today" that he was attending the St. John the Evangelist Episcopal church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, after previously attending a Lutheran church in New York.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor graduated from Anoka High School in 1960 and from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in English in 1966. During college, he began his broadcasting career on the student-operated radio station known today as Radio K.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In his 2004 book "Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America", Keillor mentions some of his noteworthy ancestors, including Joseph Crandall, who was an associate of Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island and the first American Baptist church; and Prudence Crandall, who founded the first African-American women's school in America.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Garrison Keillor started his professional radio career in November 1969 with Minnesota Educational Radio (MER), later Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), which today distributes programs under the American Public Media (APM) brand. He hosted a weekday drive-time broadcast called "A Prairie Home Entertainment", on KSJR FM at St. John's University in Collegeville. The show's eclectic music was a major divergence from the station's usual classical fare. During this time he submitted fiction to "The New Yorker" magazine, where his first story for that publication, "Local Family Keeps Son Happy," appeared in September 1970.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor resigned from "The Morning Program" in February 1971 in protest of what he considered interference with his musical programming; as part of his protest, he played nothing but the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda" during one broadcast. When he returned to the station in October, the show was dubbed "A Prairie Home Companion".


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor has attributed the idea for the live Saturday night radio program to his 1973 assignment to write about the Grand Ole Opry for "The New Yorker", but he had already begun showcasing local musicians on the morning show, despite limited studio space. In August 1973, MPR announced plans to broadcast a Saturday night version of "A Prairie Home Companion" with live musicians.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: "A Prairie Home Companion" ("PHC") debuted as an old-style variety show before a live audience on July 6, 1974; it featured guest musicians and a cadre cast doing musical numbers and comic skits replete with elaborate live sound effects. The show was punctuated by spoof commercial spots for "PHC" fictitious sponsors such as Powdermilk Biscuits, the Ketchup Advisory Board, and the Professional Organization of English Majors (POEM); it presents parodic serial melodramas, such as "The Adventures of Guy Noir, Private Eye" and "The Lives of the Cowboys." Keillor voiced Noir, the cowboy Lefty, and other recurring characters, and provided lead or backup vocals for some of the show's musical numbers. The show aired from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: After the show's intermission, Keillor read clever and often humorous greetings to friends and family at home submitted by members of the theater audience in exchange for an honorarium. Also in the second half of the show, Keillor delivered a monologue called "The News from Lake Wobegon", a fictitious town based in part on Keillor's own hometown of Anoka, Minnesota, and on Freeport and other small towns in Stearns County, Minnesota, where he lived in the early 1970s. Lake Wobegon is a quintessentially Minnesota small town characterized by the narrator as a place "... where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."


title: Garrison Keillor

text: The original "PHC" ran until 1987, when Keillor ended it to focus on other projects. In 1989, he launched a new live radio program from New York City, "The American Radio Company of the Air", which had essentially the same format as "PHC". In 1992, he moved ARC back to St. Paul, and a year later changed the name back to "A Prairie Home Companion"; it remained a fixture of Saturday night radio broadcasting for decades.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: On a typical broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion", Keillor's name was not mentioned unless a guest addressed him by name, although some sketches featured Keillor as his alter ego, Carson Wyler. In the closing credits, which Keillor read, he gave himself no billing or credit except "written by Sarah Bellum," a joking reference to his own brain.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor regularly took the radio company on the road to broadcast from popular venues around the United States; the touring production typically featured local celebrities and skits incorporating local color. In April 2000, he took the program to Edinburgh, Scotland, producing two performances in the city's Queen's Hall, which were broadcast by BBC Radio. He toured Scotland with the program to celebrate its 25th anniversary. (In the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, the program is known as "Garrison Keillor's Radio Show".) Keillor produced broadcast performances similar to "PHC" but without the "Prairie Home Companion" brand, as in his 2008 appearance at the Oregon Bach Festival. He was also the host of "The Writer's Almanac," from 1993 to 2017, which, like "PHC", was produced and distributed by American Public Media.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In a March 2011 interview, Keillor announced that he would be retiring from "A Prairie Home Companion" in 2013; but in a December 2011 interview with the "Sioux City Journal", Keillor said: "The show is going well. I love doing it. Why quit?" During an interview on July 20, 2015, Keillor announced his intent to retire from the show after the 2015–2016 season, saying, "I have a lot of other things that I want to do. I mean, nobody retires anymore. Writers never retire. But this is my last season. This tour this summer is the farewell tour."


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor's final episode of the show was recorded live for an audience of 18,000 fans at the Hollywood Bowl in California on July 1, 2016, and broadcast the next day, ending 42 seasons of the show. After the performance, President Barack Obama phoned Keillor to congratulate him. The show continued on October 15, 2016, with Chris Thile as its host.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: On November 29, 2017, the "Star Tribune" reported that Minnesota Public Radio was terminating all business relationships with Keillor as a result of "allegations of his inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him." In January 2018, MPR CEO Jon McTaggart elaborated that they had received allegations of "dozens" of sexually inappropriate incidents from the individual, including requests for sexual contact. Keillor denied any wrongdoing and said his firing stems from an incident when he touched a woman's bare back while trying to console her. He said he had apologized to her soon after, that they had already made up, and that he was surprised to hear the allegations when her lawyer called.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In its statement of termination, MPR announced that Keillor would keep his executive credit for the show, but that since he owns the trademark for the phrase "prairie home companion", they would cease rebroadcasting episodes of "A Prairie Home Companion" featuring Keillor and remove the trademarked phrase from the radio show hosted by Chris Thile. MPR also eliminated its business connections to PrairieHome.org and stopped distributing Keillor's daily program "The Writer's Almanac". "The Washington Post" also canceled Keillor's weekly column when they learned he had continued writing columns, including a controversial piece criticizing Al Franken's resignation because of sexual misconduct allegations, without revealing that he was under investigation at MPR.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Several fans wrote MPR to protest Keillor's firing, and within the month, 153 members canceled their memberships because of it. In January 2018, Keillor announced he was in mediation with MPR over the firing. On January 23, 2018, MPR News reported further on the investigation after interviewing almost 60 people who had worked with Keillor. The story described other alleged sexual misconduct by Keillor, and a $16,000 severance check for a woman who was asked to sign a confidentiality agreement to prevent her from talking about her time at MPR (she refused and never deposited the check).


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor received a letter from the MPR CEO, Jon McTaggart, dated April 5, 2018, confirming that both sides wanted archives of "A Prairie Home Companion" and "The Writer's Almanac" to be publicly available again. In April 2018, MPR and Keillor announced a settlement under which MPR would restore the online archives.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Also due to the allegations of inappropriate behavior, Keillor's segment in the PBS series "Finding Your Roots" episode that aired on December 19, 2017, was replaced by an older segment featuring Maya Rudolph.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: At age 13, Keillor adopted the pen name "Garrison" to distinguish his personal life from his professional writing. He commonly uses "Garrison" in public and in other media.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor has been called "[o]ne of the most perceptive and witty commentators about Midwestern life" by Randall Balmer in "Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism." He has written numerous magazine and newspaper articles and more than a dozen books for adults as well as children. In addition to writing for "The New Yorker," he has written for "The Atlantic Monthly" and "National Geographic." He has also written for Salon.com and authored an advice column there under the name "Mr. Blue." Following a heart operation, he resigned on September 4, 2001, his last column being titled "Every dog has his day":


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In 2004 Keillor published a collection of political essays, "Homegrown Democrat: A Few Plain Thoughts from the Heart of America," and in June 2005 he began a column called "The Old Scout", which ran at Salon.com and in syndicated newspapers. The column went on hiatus in April 2010 so that he could "finish a screenplay and start writing a novel."


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor wrote the screenplay for the 2006 movie "A Prairie Home Companion," directed by Robert Altman. He also appears in the movie.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: On November 1, 2006, Keillor opened an independent bookstore, "Common Good Books, G. Keillor, Prop." in the Blair Arcade Building at the southwest corner of Selby and N. Western Avenues in the Cathedral Hill area in the Summit-University neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In April 2012, the store moved to a new location on Snelling Avenue across from Macalester College in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood. In April of 2019, Keillor sold his interest in the bookstore.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Probably owing in part to his distinctive North-Central accent, Keillor is often used as a voice-over actor. Some notable appearances include:


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In "Slate", Sam Anderson called Keillor "very clearly a genius. His range and stamina alone are incredible—after 30 years, he rarely repeats himself—and he has the genuine wisdom of a Cosby or Mark Twain." But Keillor's "willful simplicity," Anderson wrote, "is annoying because, after a while, it starts to feel prescriptive. Being a responsible adult doesn't necessarily mean speaking slowly about tomatoes." Anderson also noted that in 1985, when "Time" magazine called Keillor the funniest man in America, Bill Cosby said, "That's true if you're a pilgrim."


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. He is tall. He considers himself a loner and prefers not to make eye contact with people. Though not diagnosed, he also considers himself to be on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum. He spoke about his experiences as an autistic person in his keynote address at the 19th Annual Minnesota Autism Conference in 2014.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Keillor has been married three times. He was married to Mary Guntzel from 1965 to 1976; they had one son, Jason (born 1969). He was married to Ulla Skaerved, a former exchange student from Denmark at Keillor's high school whom he re-encountered at a class reunion, from 1985 to 1990. He married classical string player Jenny Lind Nilsson (born 1957), who is also from Anoka, in 1995. They have one daughter, Maia Grace Keillor (born December 29, 1997).


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Between his first and second marriages, Keillor was romantically involved with Margaret Moos, who worked as a producer of "A Prairie Home Companion".


title: Garrison Keillor

text: On September 7, 2009, Keillor was briefly hospitalized after suffering a minor stroke. He returned to work a few days later.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In 2006, after a visit to a United Methodist church in Highland Park, Texas, Keillor created a local controversy with his remarks about the event, including the rhetorical suggestion of a connection between event participants and supporters of torture and a statement creating an impression of political intimidation: "I walked in, was met by two burly security men ... and within 10 minutes was told by three people that this was the Bushes' church and that it would be better if I didn't talk about politics." In response, the lecture series coordinator said the two "burly security men" were a local policeman and the church's own security supervisor, both present because the agreement with Keillor's publisher specified that the venue provide security. In addition, the coordinator said that Keillor arrived at the church, declined an introduction, and took the stage without an opportunity to mingle with the audience, so he did not know when these warnings might have been dispensed. The publicist concurred, saying that Keillor did not have contact with any church members or people in the audience before he spoke.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: Supposedly, before Keillor's remarks, participants at the event had considered the visit cordial and warm. Asked to respond, Keillor stuck to his story, describing the people who advised him not to discuss politics and saying he had no security guards at other stops on the tour.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In 2007, Keillor wrote a column that in part criticized "stereotypical" gay parents, who he said were "sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers." In response to the strong reactions of many readers, Keillor said:


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In 2008, Keillor created a controversy in St. Paul when he filed a lawsuit against his neighbor's plan to build an addition on her home, citing his need for "light and air" and a view of "open space and beyond". Keillor's home is significantly larger than others in his neighborhood and it would still be significantly larger than his neighbor's with its planned addition. Keillor came to an undisclosed settlement with his neighbor shortly after the story became public.


title: Garrison Keillor

text: In 2009, one of Keillor's "Old Scout" columns contained a reference to "lousy holiday songs by Jewish guys" and a complaint about "Silent Night" as rewritten by Unitarians, upsetting some readers. A Unitarian minister named Cynthia Landrum responded, "Listening to him talk about us over the years, it's becoming more and more evident that he isn't laughing with us—he's laughing at us", while Jeff Jacoby of "The Boston Globe" called Keillor "cranky and intolerant".


title: Chera dynasty

text: The Chera dynasty (or Cēra), , was one of the South dynasties in and before the Sangam period history of the state of Kerala and the Kongu Nadu region of Western Tamil Nadu in southern India. Together with the Tamil dynasties of Cholas of Uraiyur (Tiruchirappalli) and the Pandyas of Madurai, the early Cheras were known as one of the three major powers (muventar) of ancient Tamilakam in the early centuries of the Common Era. They are credited as the creators of land of Kerala as they have unified various regions of the western coast and western ghats to form the early Kerala empire.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The Chera country was geographically well placed to profit from maritime trade via the extensive Indian Ocean networks. Exchange of spices, especially black pepper, with Middle Eastern and Graeco-Roman merchants are attested in several sources. The Cheras of the early historical period (c. second century BCE – c. third century CE) are known to have had their original centre at Kuttanad in Kerala, and harbours at Muchiri (Muziris) and Thondi (Tyndis) on the Indian Ocean coast (Kerala) and Kongunadu. They governed the area of Malabar Coast between Alappuzha in the south to Kasaragod in the north. At the time af reign of Cheras, their empire was extented to the eastern parts of today's Tamilnadu also.This also included the Palakkad Gap, Coimbatore, Dharapuram, Erode, Salem, and Kolli Hills. The region around Coimbatore was ruled by the Cheras during the Sangam period between c. 1st and the 4th centuries CE and it served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad Gap, the principal trade route between the Malabar Coast and Tamil Nadu. However the southern region of the present-day Kerala state (The coastal belt between Thiruvananthapuram and southern Alappuzha) was under Ay dynasty, who was more related to the Pandya dynasty of Madurai.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The early historic pre-Pallava polities are often described as a "kinship-based redistributive economies" largely shaped by "pastoral-cum-agrarian subsistence" and "predatory politics". Old Tamil Brahmi cave label inscriptions, describe Ilam Kadungo, son of Perum Kadungo, and the grandson of Ko Athan Cheral of the Irumporai clan. Inscribed portrait coins with Brahmi legends give a number of Chera names, with the Chera symbols of the bow and the arrow depicted in the reverse. The anthologies of early Tamil texts are a major source of information about the early Cheras. Cenguttuvan, or the good Chera, is famous for the traditions surrounding Kannaki, the principal female character of the Sangam epic poem "Cilappatikaram". After the end of the early historical period, around the 3rd-5th century CE, there seems to be a period where the Cheras' power declined considerably.


title: Chera dynasty

text: Cheras of the Kongu country are known to have controlled western Tamil Nadu in the early medieval period. Present-day central Kerala and Kongu Cheras detached around 8th-9th century AD to form the Chera Perumal kingdom and Kongu chera kingdom(c. 9th- 12th century AD). The exact nature of the relationships between the various branches of Chera rulers is somewhat unclear.The Nambutiris asked for a regent of the Chera king from Punthura and were granted the prime minister hailing from Punthura. Hence the Zamorin holds the title 'Punthurakkon' (King from Punthura).After this, the present Kerala parts and Kongunadu became autonomous. Some of the major dynasties of medieval south India - Chalukya, Pallava, Pandya, Rashtrakuta, and Chola - seems to have conquered the Kongu Chera country. Kongu Cheras appear to have been absorbed into the Pandya political system by 10th/11th century AD. Even after the dissolution of the Perumal kingdom, royal inscriptions and temple grants, especially from outside Kerala proper, continued to refer the country and the people as the "Cheras or Keralas".


title: Chera dynasty

text: The rulers of Venad (the Venad Cheras or the "Kulasekharas"), based out of the port of Kollam in south Kerala, claimed their ancestry from the Perumals. "Cheranad" was also the name of an erstwhile province in the kingdom of Zamorin of Calicut, which had included parts of present-day Tirurangadi and Tirur Taluks of Malappuram district in it. Later it became a Taluk of Malabar District, when Malabar came under the British Raj. The headquarters of "Cheranad Taluk" was the town of Tirurangadi. Later the Taluk was merged with Eranad Taluk. In the modern period the rulers of Cochin and Travancore (in Kerala) also claimed the title "Chera".


title: Chera dynasty

text: The term Chera - and its variant form "Keralaputas" - stands for the ruling lineage and the country associated with them.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The etymology of "Chera" is still a matter of considerable speculation among historians. One approach proposes that the word is derived from "Cheral", a corruption of "Charal" meaning "declivity of a mountain" in Tamil, suggesting a connection with the mountainous geography of Kerala. Another theory argues that the "Cheralam" is derived from "cher" (sand) and "alam" (region), literally meaning, "the slushy land". Apart from the speculations mentioned, a number of other theories do appear in historical studies.


title: Chera dynasty

text: In ancient non-Tamil sources, the Cheras are referred to by various names. The Cheras are referred as "Kedalaputo" (Sanskrit: "Kerala Putra") in the Emperor Ashoka's Pali edicts (3rd century BCE). While Pliny the Elder and Claudius Ptolemy refer to the Cheras as "Kaelobotros" and "Kerobottros" respectively, the Graeco-Roman trade map "Periplus Maris Erythraei" refers to the Cheras as "Keprobotras". All these Graeco-Roman names are evidently corruptions of "Kedala Puto/Kerala Putra" probably received through relations with northern India.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The term "Cheralamdivu" or "Cheran Tivu" and its cognates, meaning the "island of the Chera kings", is a Classical Tamil name of Sri Lanka that takes root from the term "Chera".


title: Chera dynasty

text: Recent studies on ancient south Indian history suggest that the three major rulers – the Pandya, the Chera and the Chola – based originally in Madurai in Tamil Nadu, Vanchi, present day Karur, in Tamilnadu and Uraiyur(Tiruchirappalli) in Tamil Nadu, respectively. They had established outlets on the Indian Ocean namely Korkai, Muchiri (Muziris), and Kaveripattinam respectively. Territory of the Chera chiefdom of the early historical period (pre-Pallava) consisted of the present day central Kerala and Kongu region western Tamil Nadu. The political structure of the chiefdom was based on communal holding of resources and kinship-based production. The authority was determined by "the range of redistributive social relationships sustained through predatory accumulation of resources". There was more than one branch of the Chera family ruling at the same time and contenting for leadership (one in central Kerala and the other one in western Tamil Nadu).


title: Chera dynasty

text: The Cheras are referred to as "Kedalaputo" (Sanskrit: "Kerala Putra") in the Emperor Ashoka's Pali edicts (3rd century BCE, Rock Edicts II and XII). The earliest Graeco-Roman accounts referring to the Cheras are by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century CE, in the "Periplus" of the 1st century CE, and by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE.


title: Chera dynasty

text: There are also brief references in the present forms of the works by author and commentator Katyayana (c. 3rd - 4th century BCE), author and philosopher Patanjali (c. 5th century BCE) and Maurya statesman and philosopher Kautilya (Chanakya) () [though Sanskrit grammarian Panini (c. 6th - 5th century BCE) does not mention either the people or the land].


title: Chera dynasty

text: Archaeology has found epigraphic and numismatic evidence of the Early Cheras. Two almost identical inscriptions discovered from Pugalur (near Karur) dated to c. 1st - 2nd century CE, describe three generations of Chera rulers of the Irumporai lineage. They record the construction of a rock shelter for Jains on the occasion of the investiture of Ilam Kadungo, son of Perum Kadungo, and the grandson of Ko Athan Cheral Irumporai.


title: Chera dynasty

text: A short Tamil-Brahmi inscription, containing the word Chera ("Kadummi Pudha Chera") was found at Edakkal in the Western Ghats.


title: Chera dynasty

text: Recent archaeological discoveries increasingly confirm Karur as a political, economic and cultural centre of ancient south India. Excavations at Karur yielded huge quantities of copper coins with Chera symbols such as the bow and arrow, Roman amphorae and Roman coins. An ancient route, from the harbours in Kerala (such as Muchiri or Thondi) through the Palghat Gap to Karur in interior Tamil Nadu can be traced with the help of archaeological evidence. Historians are yet to precisely locate Muziris, known in Tamil as "Muchiri", a base of the Chera rulers. Archaeological excavations at Pattanam (near Cochin) suggest a strong case of identification with the location. Roman coins have over a period of time been discovered in large numbers from central Kerala and the Coimbatore-Karur region (from locations such as Kottayam-Kannur, Valluvally, Iyyal, Vellalur and Kattankanni).


title: Chera dynasty

text: A number of coins, assumed to be of the Cheras, mostly found in the Amaravati riverbed in Tamil Nadu, are a major source of early Chera historiography. This includes a number of punch marked coins discovered from Amaravati riverbed. The square coins of copper and its alloys or silver have also been discovered. Most of these early square coins show a bow and arrow, the traditional emblem of the Cheras on the obverse, with or without any legend. Silver-punch marked coins, an imitation of the Maurya coins, and with a Chera bow on the reverse, have been reported. Hundreds of copper coins, attributed to the Cheras, have been discovered from Pattanam in central Kerala. Bronze dies for minting punch marked coins were discovered from a riverbed in Karur.


title: Chera dynasty

text: Other discoveries include a coin with a portrait and the Brahmi legend "Mak-kotai" above it and another one with a portrait and the legend "Kuttuvan Kotai" above it. Both impure silver coins are tentatively dated to c. 1st century CE or a little later. The reverse side of both coins are blank. The impure silver coins bearing Brahmi legends "Kollippurai", "Kollipporai", "Kol-Irumporai" and "Sa Irumporai" were also discovered from Karur. The portrait coins are generally considered as imitation of Roman coins. All legends, assumed to be the names of the Chera rulers, were in Tamil-Brahmi characters on the obverse. Reverse often contained the bow and arrow symbol. An alliance between the Cholas is evident from a joint coin bearing the Chola tiger on the obverse and the Chera bow and arrow on the reverse. Lakshmi-type coins of possible Sri Lankan origin have also been discovered from Karur.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The macro analysis of the Mak-kotai coin shows close similarities with the contemporary Roman silver coin. A silver coin with the portrait of a person wearing a Roman-type bristled-crown helmet was also discovered from Amaravati riverbed in Karur. Reverse side of the coin depicts a bow and arrow, the traditional symbol of the Chera family.


title: Chera dynasty

text: A large body of Tamil works collectively known as the Sangam (Academy) texts (c. 2nd century BCE- 3rd century CE) describes a number of Chera, Pandya and Chola rulers. Among them, the most important sources for the Cheras are the "Pathitrupattu", the "Akananuru", and the "Purananuru". The "Pathitrupattu", the fourth book in the "Ettuthokai" anthology, mentions a number of rulers and heirs-apparent of the Chera family. Each ruler is praised in ten songs sung by a court poet. However, the book is not worked into connected history and settled chronology so far.


title: Chera dynasty

text: A method known as Gajabahu-Chenguttuvan synchronism, is used by some historians to date the events described in the early Tamil texts to c. 1st - 2nd century CE. Despite its dependency on numerous conjectures, the method is considered as the sheet anchor for the purpose of dating the events in the early Tamil texts. Ilango Adigal author of the legendary Tamil epic poem "Chilapathikaram" describes Chenguttuvan as his elder brother. He also mentions Chenguttuvan's decision to propitiate a temple ("virakkallu") for the goddess Pattini (Kannaki) at Vanchi. A certain king called Gajabahu, often identified with Gajabahu, king of Sri Lanka (2nd century CE), was present at the Pattini festival at Vanchi. In this context, Chenguttuvan can be dated to either the first or last quarter of the 2nd century CE.


title: Chera dynasty

text: Uthiyan Cheral Athan is generally considered as the earliest known ruler of the Chera family from the Tamil texts (and the possible hero of the lost first decad of "Pathitrupattu"). Uthiyan Cheral was also known as "Vanavaramban" ("Purananuru)". His headquarters were at Kuzhumur ("Akananuru"). He is described as the Chera ruler who prepared food ("the Perum Chotru") for Pandavas and the Kauravas at the Kurukshetra War ("Purananuru" and "Akananuru"). He Married Nallini, daughter of Veliyan Venman, and was the father of Imayavaramban Nedum Cheralathan ("Pathitrupattu (II))."


title: Chera dynasty

text: Uthiyan Cheral Athan is probably identical with the Perum Cheral Athan who fought against the Chola Karikala at the battle of Venni. In the battle of Venni, the Chera was wounded on the back by the Chola ruler Karikala. Unable to bear the disgrace, the Chera committed suicide by slow starvation.


title: Chera dynasty

text: As the name "Pathitrupattu" indicates, they were ten texts, each consisting a decad of lyrics; but of these two have not till now been discovered.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The following Cheras are knowns from "Purananuru" collection (some of the names are re-duplications)"."


title: Chera dynasty

text: After the end of the early historical period in south India, c. 3rd-5th century CE, there seems to be a period where the Chera family's political prestige and influence declined considerably. Little is known for certain about the Cheras during this period.


title: Chera dynasty

text: Cheras of Kongu country (Karur) initially appear as the rulers of western Tamil Nadu and central Kerala. There was a domination of present-day Kerala regions of the ancient Chera country by the Kongu Cheras/Keralas (probably via some form of viceregal rule). The family claimed that they were descended from the Cheras who flourished in pre-Pallava (early historic) south India.


title: Chera dynasty

text: There are clear attestations of repeated Pandya conquests of the Kerala or Chera country in the 7th and 8th centuries AD.


title: Chera dynasty

text: While the Pallava and Pandya rulers in Tamil Nadu emerged into established kingship by c. 5th - 6th centuries CE, the formation of the monarchical polity in Kerala took place not before c. 9th century CE. The Chera Perumals are known to have ruled what is now Kerala between c. 9th and 12th century CE. Scholars tend to identify Alvar saint Kulasekhara and Nayanar saint Cherman Perumal (literally "the Chera king") with some of the earliest Perumals.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The exact nature of the relation between the Cheras of Kongu and the Chera Perumals remains obscure. The Nambutiris asked for a regent of the Chera king from Karur in Coimbatore and were granted the prime minister hailing from Pundurai. Hence the Zamorin holds the title 'Punthurakkon' (King from Punthura).After this, the Malabar and Kerala parts became autonomous of Karur. The Perumal kingdom derived most of its wealth from maritime trade relations (the spice trade) with the Middle East. The port of Kollam, in the kingdom, was a major point in overseas India trade to the West and the East Asia. Political units known as "nadus", controlled by powerful hereditary chiefs or by households, occupied central importance in the structuring of the Chera Perumal state. The rulers of the nadus usually acted with the help of a Nair military retinue. The prominent nadus continued to exist even after the end of the Chera rule during the beginning of the 12th century. Nambudiri-Brahmin settlements of agriculturally rich areas (fertile wet land) were another major source of support to the kingdom.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The Chera Perumal kingdom had alternating friendly or hostile relations with the Cholas and the Pandyas. The kingdom was attacked, and eventually forced into submission, by the Cholas in the early 11th century AD (in order to break the monpoly of trade with the Middle East). When the Perumal kingdom was eventually dissolved in the 12th century most of its autonomous chiefdoms became independent.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The extent and nature of state formation of the Chera kingdoms, from the ancient period to early modern period, cannot be interpreted either in a linear or in a monochromatic way. Each ruling family had its own political prestige and influence in southern India over their life spans.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The extent of political formation in pre-Pallava south India (before c. third century CE) was a matter of considerable debate among historians. Although earlier scholars visualised early historic south Indian polities as full-fledged kingdoms, some of the recent studies rule out the possibility of state formation. According to historian Rajan Gurukkal, ancient south India was a combination of several "unevenly evolved and kinship based redistributive economies of chiefdoms". These polities were structured by the dominance of "agro-pastoral means of subsistence and predatory politics". Kesavan Veluthat, another prominent historian of south India, uses the term "chief" and "chiefdom" for the Chera ruler and Chera polity of early historic south India respectively.


title: Chera dynasty

text: Reaching conclusions based on the early Tamil poems and archaeological evidences is another topic of disagreement. It is assumed that the institution of sabha in south Indian villages, for local administration, was first surfaced during the early historic period.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The early Chera economy can be described as a predominantly "pastoral-cum-agrarian" based system. The emphasis on agriculture increased with time, and provided the base for larger economic change. The early historic south India (c. second century BCE-c. third century CE) can be described as a "semi-tribal political economy". In a 2013 paper, historian Rajan Gurukkal describes ancient south India as a collection of "unevenly evolved and kinship-based redistributive economies."


title: Chera dynasty

text: Exchange relations with the merchants from Graeco-Roman world, the "Yavanas", and with north India provided considerable economic momentum for the Chera chiefdom. Indian Ocean exchange was the major economic activity. There is some difference of opinion with regard to the nature of the "spice trade" in ancient Chera country. It is disputed whether this "trade" with the Mediterranean world was managed on equal terms by the Tamil merchants, in view of the existence of apparently unequal political institutions in south India. Some of the more recent studies point out that the "trade" was an exchange of "serious imbalance", because of its being between the Roman Empire and South India with uneven chiefdoms.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The geographical advantages, like the favourable Monsoon winds which carried ships directly from the Arabia to south India as well as the abundance of exotic spices in the interior Ghat mountains (and the presence of a large number of rivers connecting the Ghats with the Arabian Sea) combined to make the Cheras a major power in ancient southern India. Spice exchange with Middle Eastern and Mediterranean (Graeco-Roman) navigators can be traced back to before the Common Era and was substantially consolidated in the early years of the Common Era. In the first century CE, the Romans conquered Egypt, which probably helped them to establish dominance in the Indian Ocean spice trade. The earliest Graeco-Roman accounts referring to the Cheras are by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century CE, in "Periplus Maris Erythraei" of the 1st century CE, and by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century CE. The "Periplus Maris Erythraei" portrays the "trade" in the territory of "Keprobotras" in detail. Muziris was the most important centre in the Malabar Coast, which according to the "Periplus", "abounded with large ships of Romans, Arabs and Greeks". Bulk spices, ivory, timber, pearls and gems were "exported" from the Chera country to the Middle East and Mediterranean kingdoms.


title: Chera dynasty

text: It is known that the Romans brought vast amounts of gold in exchange for black pepper. This is testified by the Roman coin hoards that have been found in various parts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Pliny the Elder, in the 1st century CE, laments the drain of Roman gold into India and China for luxuries such as spices, silk and muslin. The spice trade across the Indian Ocean dwindled with the decline of the Roman empire in the 3rd - 4th centuries CE. With the exit of the Mediterranean from the spice trade, their space was picked up by the Chinese and Arab navigators.


title: Chera dynasty

text: The famous damascus blades resulted from the unique properties of wootz crucible steel from medieval south India and Sri Lanka. There are several ancient Tamil, Greek, Chinese and Roman literary references to high-carbon Indian steel. The crucible steel production process started in the 6th century BC at Kodumanal in Tamil Nadu, Golconda in Telangana, Karnataka and Sri Lanka. This steel was termed "the finest steel in the world" by the Romans who referred to it by the term "Seric". It was exported to Rome, Egypt, China and the Middle East by 500 BC. The steel was exported as cakes of steely iron that came to be known as "Wootz".


title: Chera dynasty

text: The method was to heat black magnetite ore in the presence of carbon in a sealed clay crucible inside a charcoal furnace to completely remove slag. An alternative was to smelt the ore first to give wrought iron, then heat and hammer it to remove slag. The carbon source was bamboo and leaves from plants such as Avārai. The Chinese and locals in Sri Lanka adopted the production methods of creating wootz steel from the Cheras by the 5th century BC. In Sri Lanka, this early steel-making method employed a unique wind furnace, driven by the monsoon winds. Production sites from antiquity have emerged, in places such as Anuradhapura, Tissamaharama and Samanalawewa, as well as imported artifacts of ancient iron and steel from Kodumanal. A 200 BC Tamil trade guild in Tissamaharama, in the South East of Sri Lanka, brought with them some of the oldest iron and steel artifacts and production processes to the island from the classical period.


title: Chera dynasty

text: In general, early Tamil texts reflect the southern Indian cultural tradition as well as elements of the northern Indian cultural tradition, which by now was beginning to come into contact with southern India. It is logical to conclude that most of the Chera population followed native Dravidian religions. Religious practice might have consisted predominantly of conducting sacrifices to various gods, such as to the pre-eminent god Murugan. The worship of departed heroes was a common practice in the Chera territory, along with tree worship and other kinds of ancestor worship. The war goddess Kottava was propitiated with elaborate offerings of meat and toddy. It is theorised that Kottava was assimilated into the present-day form of the goddess Durga. It is thought that the first wave of Brahmin migration came to the Chera territory around the 3rd century BCE with or behind the Jain and Buddhist missionaries. It was only in the 8th century CE that the Aryanisation of the old Chera country reached its organised form. Though the vast majority of the population followed native practices, a small percentage of the population, mainly migrants, followed Jainism, Buddhism and Brahmanism. Populations of Jews and Christians were also known to have lived in Kerala.


title: Chera dynasty

text: Early Tamil texts do make a number of references to social stratification, as expressed by use of the word "kudi" ("group") to denote "caste". A striking feature of the social life of the early historic period (c. second century BCE-c. third century CE) is the high status accorded to women.


title: Chera dynasty

text: Agriculture and pastoralism were the primary occupations of the people. Various agricultural occupations such as harvesting, threshing and drying are described in the early Tamil texts. Poets and musicians were held in high regard in society. Early Tamil texts are full of references about the lavish patronage extended to court poets. There were professional poets and poetesses who composed texts praising their patrons and were generously rewarded for this.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Jagame Thandhiram () is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by YNOT Studios and Reliance Entertainment. The film stars Dhanush, James Cosmo, Joju George, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Kalaiyarasan. It marks the Indian film debut of James Cosmo and the Tamil debut of Joju George. It follows Suruli, a carefree gangster in Madurai, who is recruited to help an overseas crime lord take down a rival, but later caught off guard by the moral dilemmas that follow.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: The project was initially announced in April 2016 with Thenandal Studio Limited bagging the project, but eventually got shelved due to the financial problems surrounding over the production house. It was revived once again in February 2018, with YNOT Studios acquiring the rights for film production. After an official launch in July 2019, the film began production in September 2019, with shooting taking place across London, Madurai, Rameshwaram and Jaipur and wrapped within December 2019. The songs and background score was composed by Santhosh Narayanan, while cinematography handled by Shreyas Krishna and editing done by Vivek Harshan.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: "Jagame Thandhiram" was scheduled for a theatrical release on 1 May 2020, but was delayed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the makers initially planned on releasing the film only in theatres, this decision was dropped in February 2021 in favour of a worldwide digital release through Netflix on 18 June 2021. It was dubbed and released in 17 languages, across 190 countries. The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics and audience.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Suruli is a gangster from Madurai who runs a parotta restaurant. Due to his thug-like behaviour, he is unable to find a bride and even when his marriage is fixed, the bride runs away when she finds out about his criminal background. His notoriety comes to the attention of an Englishman named John, who is a right-hand man of a London-based white supremacist don named Peter Sprott. John offers £ per week to Suruli if he works for Peter against a rival don Sivadoss, who is Peter's arch-nemesis and has considerable influence among London's Tamil-speaking population. Suruli accepts the offer with the intention to use the money to eventually settle down and give up his criminal activities, and leaves for London where he learns more about Sivadoss and his gang as well as their activities which involve smuggling weapons from conflict-ridden countries in exchange for money.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Peter's gang, led by Suruli and John, raid Sivadoss's boat yard where the smuggling is in process under Sivadoss's right-hand man Rajan. During the raid, Suruli kills Rajan as well. Sivadoss and his gang realise that Suruli is responsible for killing Rajan and kidnap him. Suruli and Sivadoss negotiate to kill Peter under the ruse of inviting him for a "peace talk" to end their feud, in exchange for £ as well as a parotta restaurant in London, but during the "peace talk", Suruli betrays Sivadoss and hands over an aruval to Peter, who uses it to hack Sivadoss to death. As a reward for Sivadoss's death, Peter offers Suruli a designated area in London to start his business and allow Tamils to live there, and christens the area "Little Madurai". Meanwhile, Suruli falls in love with Attila, a Sri Lankan Tamil singer. When he initially approaches Attila, she reveals that she is a widow with a seven-year-old son named Dheeran.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: However, she soon reciprocates Suruli's feelings. While on a date at a park, they are attacked by Sivadoss's remaining henchmen Deepan and Dharani, who have sworn to take revenge on Suruli for betraying and helping Peter to kill Sivadoss. Deepan shoots Suruli, leaving him critically wounded. However, he soon manages to recover under Attila's care. But one day, he captures her after she injects a mysterious drug into his drip bag with the intention to kill him. When confronted, Attila reveals why she wants to kill him. Attila, Dheeran and Attila's brother are the only survivors of an aerial attack on their village in Sri Lanka during the Sri Lankan Civil War. It is also revealed that Dheeran is not Attila's son, but her brother's son. At a refugee camp, they are convinced by Sivadoss's aide to join Sivadoss's gang, who would help them move to London under the guise of husband, wife and child and are offered fake passports.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: On the way, Attila's brother is caught and thrown into Peter's private prison, which is used to hold refugees and illegal immigrants, but Attila and Dheeran safely make it to London. Attila further reveals that Sivadoss was involved in smuggling with the intention to use the money to help the illegal immigrants and refugees from all countries financially and legally, and was planning to fight for her brother's release as well. Sivadoss, on hearing about Suruli's love for Attila, decided to offer him protection and get him married to Attila. But due to Sivadoss's death, the money to fight for the immigrants' rights had dried up, and Attila's brother has no chance of being released from prison as a result. Hence, Attila had planned the encounter in the park between Suruli, Deepan and Dharani with the intention to kill Suruli, but she still saved him due to her love for him.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Suruli also learns about a bill pending in the British parliament called BICORE, whose purpose is for restricting immigration and is being pushed by Peter and a few other lawmakers. If passed, most of the refugees and illegal immigrants would be deported or thrown into prisons, which would benefit Peter. On hearing this, Suruli has a change of heart and decides to help Attila, Deepan and Dharani in their fight against Peter and BICORE. With the help of Deepan and Dharani, he manages to recover the money which Sivadoss had acquired for the immigrants, and this money is used to release some of the immigrants, including Attila's brother. Suruli and Attila resume their relationship.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Meanwhile, Peter asks Suruli to travel to Birmingham to kill Andrews, a minister who is against BICORE. Suruli realises that Peter wants him to kill Andrews so that his death can be blamed on an immigrant, and thus BICORE would gain more support and be passed in Parliament. He refuses to kill Andrews. In retribution, Peter, John and their men attack Little Madurai and, in the process, kill Suruli's close friend Murugesan. With no other option, Suruli's accepts Peter's demands and leaves for Birmingham. However, during the journey, Suruli, Deepan and Dharani kill John and head for Peter's mansion instead. They manage to shoot down Peter's goons and barge into Peter's room. Despite Deepan and Dharani wanting to kill Peter, Suruli decides against it and instead transports Peter to a remote land on the Afghanistan–Iran border. Suruli, Deepan and Dharani then destroy all proof of Peter's British citizenship, offer him a fake passport from the "Republic of Mattuthavani", and leave him there to live as a stateless refugee forever.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: During March 2015, Karthik Subbaraj planned for a gangster film set in foreign locations, when he attended the special screening of "Jigarthanda" at a film festival in New York. He was inspired by popular crime films such as "The Godfather", "The Irishman", "Once Upon a Time in America" and "Casino", and with this he planned to come up with a script, bridging the gap of a gangster from New York and a man from Madurai, with the issue of foreign immigrants being set as the subplot. Subbaraj wrote the script with Dhanush and Hollywood actor Robert De Niro in mind, and happened to approach the former in April 2016. Dhanush agreed to produce the film under the actor's home banner Wunderbar Films, apart from playing the lead. The makers unsuccessfully approached Hollywood actors Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino about playing a key role in the film during October 2016. Subbaraj later lamented that the process of reaching out to the actors was difficult, and that it was often difficult to get past casting agents.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: The rights for the film's production were later exchanged to Thenandal Studio Limited in April 2017, and the company, opted to prioritise the making of other big-budget films such as "Mersal" and "Sangamithra". However, soon after the release of "Mersal", the company ran into financial problems and eventually shelved the project. S. Sashikanth of YNOT Studios, acquired the rights for the film's production and the project was revived in February 2018. Subbaraj planned to make changes in the story as well as the location settings, in order to reduce the film's production costs, in which the gangster story being set in London instead of New York, and also added that the film's shooting will take place after his completion of Rajinikanth's "Petta" as well as Dhanush's commitments in other projects. On 19 July 2019, Sashikanth officially announced the project's launch, titled as "#D40" with Subbaraj's regular collaborator, Santhosh Narayanan scoring the music, as well as cinematographer Shreyaas Krishna and editor Vivek Harshan, who worked with the director's previous projects "Jigarthanda", "Iraivi", "Mercury" and "Petta".


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: While the film was tentatively titled as "#D40", there were rumours claiming that the film's title was "Suruli" or "Ulagam Suttrum Vaaliban" (referring to the 1975 film of the same name), whereas Sashikanth claimed that there is no official announcement regarding the film's title. The film's title "Jagame Thandhiram" was announced during the release of the film's motion poster on 19 February 2020, referring to a line from the song "Sambo Siva Sambo", written by Kannadasan, from the 1979 film "Ninaithale Inikkum". Karthik Subbaraj initially considered Suruli as the film's title, but one day, he happened to listen to the "Ninaithale Inikkum" song, and also being a fan of Rajinikanth, the director felt that the "Jagame Thandhiram" would be the apt title for his script.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: In an interview with "The Times of India", Karthik Subbaraj eventually stated that "The process of finalising an actor in Hollywood is going through a casting agent. Once the casting agent is impressed with the script, the makers need to make an offer and the number of days required for shooting, after which the actor will have three weeks' time to accept or reject the offer. Only after the three weeks can the makers approach another actor." In mid-April 2018, Pierce Brosnan was reportedly approached for a role in the film, after Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, but it was later proved to be false. During the official announcement of the project, it was reported that Malayalam actress Aishwarya Lekshmi will play the female lead, in her second Tamil film, after Vishal's "Action" (2019). In September 2019, British actor James Cosmo (of "Game of Thrones" fame) signed up for the character Peter Sprott, in his Indian film debut. Joju George, Kalaiyarasan and Roman Fiori were also confirmed in the film's cast in the same month.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Initially SJ Suryah was approached to play the main antagonist Sivadoss, but the role went to George, marking his Tamil debut. George initially stated that he admired Karthik Subbaraj's works after his directorial debut with "Pizza" (2012) and tried to approach Subbaraj, but he couldn't get a chance. He stated that "Karthik asked me to audition for this role since it was a huge character. He narrated a scene and asked me to act. I acted it out and said the dialogues in broken Tamil. He simply smiled at me, and I was so happy." Similarly, Cosmo, who made his Indian film debut with this film, had said that he was impressed by the narration of Karthik Subbaraj and decided to act in the film. He also shot for few scenes in Rajasthan during this schedule. About his character, he stated that "The character I play is that of a powerful gangster in London. He employs the character played by Dhanush to fix the problems created by Indian gangs in London. During the course of this, he grows fond of Dhanush, which changes the whole dynamics of his gang. That's how the story moves forward."


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Principal photography began on 24 September 2019, in Aldgate East, London. The crew filmed for about a week, before the makers planned to shoot the entire stretch of portions in London, within a single schedule of 20 days. However, on 7 November 2019, the makers announced that they have completed the London schedule within 64 days. In 9 November, the makers headed to India, to shoot major portions of the film in Madurai and parts of Rajasthan. The entire principal photography process wrapped on 13 January 2020, with Dhanush, stating it as one of his "quickest film in his career" as the film was shot within a span of four months. The film's post-production process took place in London in January 2020, post the completion of the film's shoot. However, it was put on hold, as the production house suspended the works of their projects, including production and promotional activities, due to the COVID-19 pandemic; It later resumed in May 2020, as the Tamil Nadu government granted permission for the film industry to resume post-production works. The film's final duration for Netflix's version was about 158 minutes, with an 18+ rating (adult certificate) due to violence and abusive words; three songs and sequences were removed to follow the platform's guidelines. However, its televised version has a duration of 165 minutes, with the deleted songs and sequences being featured, and also bleeping the abusive language and violence.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Karthik Subbaraj revealed in an interview that "Jagame Thandhiram", apart from being a gangster film, explores the themes of xenophobia, cultural shifts, and also what the meaning of ‘home’ is to different people. He added the film "started off as a gangster story initially, where two explosive personalities face off against each other; one from the Western world and one from Madurai. After that, the script demanded we go to a foreign land and shoot there; we didn't travel to London just for the sake of fancy locations. The themes explored in the film are very, very real and something that is very relevant and happening to all of us right now. Most of us... we’re all lucky to say that this is the land we belong to, and this is our home country. But there is a different world, where it is tough for many people to even identify what their idea of ‘home’ is, where they come from and most importantly, where they belong."


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: In a live conversation with his fans through Twitter Spaces, Dhanush said that the character Suruli will have "shades of Rajinikanth's mannerisms in the film", Subbaraj, Dhanush and Joju George were fans of Rajinikanth. Eventually Dhanush stayed away from imitating Rajinikanth's mannerisms in his earlier films, due to his change in script selections, but Karthik Subbaraj had said "Let Rajini be there". The film further deals with the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which led to Sri Lankan Civil War, and sufferings of the Eelam Tamils as refugees and immigrants, as Subbaraj had stated that it is about "man-made boundaries and whether homes unite or separate".


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Speaking about the film's script, Subbaraj, in an interview to "LetsOTT" had stated that "gangster films have more scope for unpredictability". He added that films such as ""The Godfather" and "Scarface" are not only based on violence, but also about the emotions they connect with the storyline. While the former is based on the legacy, the latter is about brother-sister sentiment" and further believed that "a strong emotion connected with any story has more scope to connect with the audiences".


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: The soundtrack to "Jagame Thandhiram" featured 11 tracks; eight songs, and three instrumentals, all of them being composed by Santhosh Narayanan. Lyrics for the songs were written by Vivek, Dhanush, Arivu, Anthony Daasan and Madurai Babaraj. According to Santhosh, as "the film is British in many ways", he got an opportunity to collaborate with British and Scottish folk bands and musicians, while also exploring Madurai's folk music. "Rakita Rakita" being the first song from the film was recorded live outside his studio, since he "wanted the song to be a listener's experience". "Rakita Rakita" was released as the film's first single on 28 July 2020, coinciding with Dhanush's birthday. Dhanush himself sang the song, with additional vocals provided by Santhosh Narayanan and Dhee.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: The second single titled "Bujji", sung by Anirudh Ravichander, was released during the eve of Diwali day, on 13 November 2020. The third single "Nethu" which was sung and written by Dhanush, was released on 22 May 2021. Director Karthik Subbaraj had stated that the songs "Bujji" and "Nethu", along with the fourth song from the film titled "Aala Ola" will not be featured in the film and they are used only for promotional purposes, but he assured that the songs will be present in the film's television premiere. The soundtrack album was launched by Sony Music on 6 June 2021 in Tamil and Telugu languages, through music streaming platforms.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: The soundtrack opened to positive response from critics and audiences. Dhanush, Karthik Subbaraj, Santhosh Narayanan and the musical team of "Jagame Thandhiram" conducted a session on 7 June through Twitter Spaces in order to celebrate the soundtrack's success; thus being the maiden entry of a South Indian actor through the live-audio conversation platform. It was the highest attended Twitter Spaces session with 17,000 participants, until it was broken by "#CelebrateThalapathyWithRoute", another session which had 27,600 listeners.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: "Jagame Thandhiram" was initially scheduled to release on 1 May 2020, but was then indefinitely delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The producers themselves confirmed that the film will be scheduled for a theatrical release, refuting the rumours of releasing through over-the-top media service platforms. In January 2021, the film was planned for a February release which did not happen, as media reports claimed that the film will be scheduled for a direct release through the streaming platform Netflix.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Without any pre-announcement, on 22 February 2021, the teaser trailer for the film was unveiled by Netflix India, through their official YouTube channel, thus confirming the release through the streaming platform. The digital rights of the film were sold for , thus becoming the highest paid Tamil film for direct digital release. It was initially slated to be released on the last week of March 2021, However, the release was not confirmed during their announcement of Indian originals for the 2021 slate of Netflix.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: On 27 April 2021, the makers announced that "Jagame Thandhiram" will release on 18 June 2021. Irrespective of being dubbed in Telugu (as "Jagame Tantram"), Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi languages, the makers further announced that the film will be dubbed and released in 17 languages, the first time for a Tamil film, so as to be premiered in over 190 countries through Netflix. The film released on 18 June, along with dubbed versions in Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Brazilian, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Neutral), Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: In interviews with online portals, Karthik Subbaraj expressed his disinterest on not crediting the creators of the film on its promotional posters released through Netflix's social media handles. He added that "it is the platform's policy not to include credits of the directors and other artists", which led Subbaraj to promote his own poster designs through his media sites. He further added that "it would be nice to see Netflix changes their policies in future".


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: A graffiti art for "Jagame Thandhiram" was created by graffiti artist Nme. Netflix India released the graffiti tribute video through the social media handles in May 2021, which opened to positive response from fans. Dhanush's look in the film was recreated by Medha Srivastava, a makeup artist, whose video was shared by Netflix India's social media handles, the very same month.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: Amul India released a doodle which inspired a still from the film. A Twitter emoji was also unveiled ahead of the release, becoming Dhanush's first film to do so. The film's trailer was recreated by Ikorodu Bois (a group of Nigerian boys), known for recreating promos of popular web series, "Money Heist" and other OTT shows. Their video has been posted on their Instagram page. One day prior to the film's release, a fan from Tamil Nadu, erected a huge cutout of Dhanush. Later, stills and promotional videos from the film were showcased at the Times Square in New York.


title: Jagame Thandhiram

text: The satellite rights of the film were purchased by Star Vijay with the television premiere being held only after two months after its digital release. During an interview, Karthik Subbaraj said that the songs "Bujji", "Nethu" and "Aala Ola" were removed from the film's original cut to follow Netflix's guidelines and that the songs will be featured only during the television broadcast of the film.