document_title: Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)

question_text: who plays belle father in beauty and the beast

root

text: Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In Rococo-era France, an enchantress disguised as a beggar arrives at a ball and offers the host, a coldhearted prince, a rose for shelter. When he refuses, she transforms him into a beast and his servants into household objects, and erases the castle from the memories of their loved ones. She casts a spell on the rose and warns the prince that the curse will never lift unless he learns to love another, and earn their love in return, before the last petal falls.

tag: p

text: Years later, in the village of Villeneuve, Belle dreams of adventure and brushes off advances from Gaston, an arrogant former soldier. Lost in the forest, Belle's father Maurice seeks refuge in the Beast's castle, but the Beast imprisons him for stealing a rose. Belle ventures out in search for him and finds him locked in the castle dungeon. The Beast agrees to let her take Maurice's place.

text: Belle befriends the castle's servants, who treat her to a spectacular dinner. When she wanders into the forbidden west wing and finds the rose, the Beast, enraged, scares her into the woods. She is cornered by wolves, but the Beast rescues her and is injured in the process. A friendship develops as Belle nurses his wounds. The Beast shows Belle a gift from the enchantress, a book that transports readers wherever they want. Belle uses it to visit her childhood home in Paris, where she discovers a plague doctor mask. Belle realises that she and her father were forced to leave her mother's deathbed as her mother succumbed to the plague.

text: In Villeneuve, Gaston sees rescuing Belle as an opportunity to win her hand in marriage and agrees to help Maurice. When Maurice learns of his ulterior motive and rejects him, Gaston abandons him to the wolves. Maurice is rescued by the beggar Agathe, but when he tells the townsfolk of Gaston's crime, Gaston convinces them to send Maurice to an insane asylum.

text: After sharing a romantic dance with the Beast, Belle discovers her father's predicament using a magic mirror. The Beast releases her to save Maurice, giving her the mirror to remember him with. At Villeneuve, Belle proves Maurice's sanity by revealing the Beast in the mirror to the townsfolk. Realizing that Belle loves the Beast, Gaston has her thrown into the asylum carriage with her father and rallies the villagers to follow him to the castle to slay the Beast. Maurice and Belle escape and Belle rushes back to the castle.

text: During the battle, Gaston abandons his companion LeFou, who then sides with the servants to fend off the villagers. Gaston attacks the Beast in his tower, who is too depressed to fight back, but regains his will upon seeing Belle return. He overpowers Gaston but spares his life before reuniting with Belle. However, Gaston fatally shoots the Beast from a bridge, but it collapses when the castle crumbles and he falls to his death. The Beast dies as the last petal falls and the servants become inanimate. When Belle tearfully professes her love to him, Agathe reveals herself as the enchantress and undoes the curse, repairing the crumbling castle and restoring the Beast's and servants' human forms and the villagers' memories. The Prince and Belle host a ball for the kingdom, where they dance happily.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
Emma Watson as Belle, a beautiful and benevolent bibliophile who develops feelings for the Beast and begins to see the humanity within him.

Daisy Duczmal portrays an infant Belle.

Dan Stevens as The Prince / Beast, a cold-hearted prince who is transformed into a hideous beast and forced to earn back his humanity by learning to truly love and be loved in return.[9][10]

Adam Mitchell[3] portrays the younger version of the Prince.

Luke Evans as Gaston, a narcissistic and arrogant hunter and veteran of the French Royal Army who is willing to go as far as it takes to have Belle as his trophy wife.
Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle's protective widowed father.[11]

Jolyon Coy portrays the young Maurice.

Josh Gad as LeFou, Gaston's flamboyant and long-suffering sidekick who bolsters his friend's ego but gets very little in return.[12]
Ewan McGregor as Lumière, the Beast's charismatic bouteiller who has been transformed into a candelabra.[13]
Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, the neurotic court composer and Madame de Garderobe's husband who has been transformed into a harpsichord.[14]
Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, the Beast's gruff but loyal majordomo and the head of the household staff who has been transformed into a mantel clock.[15]
Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts, the castle's motherly head housekeeper who has been transformed into a teapot.[11]
Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe, a world-renowned opera singer and Cadenza's wife who has been transformed into a wardrobe.[16]
Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, one of the castle maids and Lumière's lover who has been transformed into a feather duster.[17]
Nathan Mack as Chip, Mrs. Potts' plucky son who has been transformed into a teacup.[18]
Hattie Morahan as Agathe, an impoverished hermit and resident of Villeneuve who, in reality, is the Enchantress responsible for cursing the Prince.[19] Morahan also narrates the prologue.

Rita Davies portrays the Enchantress in her beggar woman form.

Adrian Schiller as Monsieur D'Arque, the sly warden of the local asylum who is bribed by Gaston to have Maurice institutionalized.[19]
Gerard Horan as Monsieur Jean Potts, an absent-minded potter and resident of Villeneuve who is later revealed to be Mrs. Potts' husband and Chip's father.
Haydn Gwynne as Clothilde, a fishmonger and resident of Villeneuve who is later revealed to be Cogsworth's wife.
Michael Jibson as the Tavern Keeper, the owner and keeper of Villeneuve's local tavern where Gaston and the village residents drink.
Ray Fearon as Père Robert, Villeneuve's local chaplain who encourages Belle to borrow the books in the chapel's meager library.
Sophie Reid, Rafaëlle Cohen, and Carla Nella as the Village Lasses, a trio of women who fawn over Gaston and have a jealousy for Belle.
Jimmy Johnston, Dean Street, and Alexis Loizon as Tom, Dick, and Stanley, a trio of men who serve as Gaston's henchmen.
Zoe Rainey as Belle's mother, Maurice's late wife who contracted the plague and died when Belle was an infant.
Clive Rowe as Cuisinier, the castle's head chef who has been transformed into a stove.
Gizmo as Frou-Frou, Maestro Cadenza's and Madame de Garderobe's pet Yorkshire Terrier who has been transformed into a footstool.
Thomas Padden as Chapeau, the Prince's valet who has been transformed into a coat rack.
Tom Turner[4] as The King, the Prince's father who, following his wife's death, raised his son to be just as selfish and arrogant as he was.
Harriet Jones as The Queen, the Prince's mother who died of an illness when he was a child.
Dale Branston as Baker, Villeneuve's residential baker.
Chris Andrew Mellon as Nasty Headmaster, the unnamed headmaster of an all boys school in Villeneuve that disapproves of Belle teaching a young girl how to read.
Vivian Parry as the Village Lass' Mother, an unnamed seamstress who is the mother of the Village Lasses.

tag: ul

text: Cast notes[edit]

text: ^ In the initial theatrical release, Mitchell was miscredited as Rudi Gooman in the cast, but listed under his real name in the soundtrack credits.[20]

text: ^ In the initial theatrical release, Turner is miscredited as Henry Garrett in the cast.[20]

text: Stephen Merchant also appeared in the film as Monsieur Toilette, a servant who was turned into a toilet. This character was cut from the film, but is featured in the deleted scenes.[21]

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: Previously, Disney had begun work on a film adaptation of the 1994 Broadway musical.[22][23] However, in a 2011 interview, composer Alan Menken stated the planned film version of the Beauty and the Beast stage musical "was canned".[24]

text: By April 2014, Walt Disney Pictures had already begun developing a new live-action version and remake of Beauty and the Beast after making other live-action fantasy films such as Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella and The Jungle Book.[25] In June 2014, Bill Condon was signed to direct the film from a script by Evan Spiliotopoulos.[26] Later in September of that same year, Stephen Chbosky (who had previously directed Watson in The Perks of Being a Wallflower) was hired to re-write the script.[27]

text: Before Condon was hired to direct the film, Disney approached him with a proposal to remake the film in a more radical way as Universal Studios had remade Snow White and the Huntsman (2012). Condon later explained that "after Frozen opened, the studio saw that there was this big international audience for an old-school-musical approach. But initially, they said, 'We're interested in a musical to a degree, but only half full of songs.' My interest was taking that film and doing it in this new medium—live-action—as a full-on musical movie. So I backed out for a minute, and they came back and said, 'No, no, no, we get it, let's pursue it that way.'"[28] Walt Disney Pictures president of production Sean Bailey credited Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn with the decision to make the film as a musical: "We worked on this for five or six years, and for 18 months to two years, Beauty was a serious dramatic project, and the scripts were written to reflect that. It wasn't a musical at that time. But we just couldn't get it to click and it was Alan Horn who championed the idea of owning the Disney of it all. We realized there was a competitive advantage in the songs. What is wrong with making adults feel like kids again?"[29]

text: Casting[edit]

text: In January 2015, Emma Watson announced that she would be starring as Belle, the female lead.[30] Watson was the first choice of Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan F. Horn, as he had previously overseen Warner Bros. which released the eight Harry Potter films that co-starred Watson as Hermione Granger.[29] Two months later, Luke Evans and Dan Stevens were revealed to be in talks to play Gaston and the Beast respectively,[31][32] and Watson confirmed their casting the following day through tweets.[9][33] The rest of the principal cast, including Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, Audra McDonald, Ian McKellen, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci were announced between March and April to play LeFou, Mrs. Potts, Maurice, Madame de Garderobe, Cogsworth, Plumette, Lumière and Cadenza, respectively.[12][11][16][15][17][13][14][34]

text: Susan Egan, who originated the role of Belle on Broadway, commented on the casting of Watson as "perfect".[35] Paige O'Hara, who voiced Belle in the original animated film and its sequels, offered to help Watson with her singing lessons.[36]

text: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Emma Watson was reportedly paid $3 million upfront, together with an agreement that her final take-home pay could rise as high as $15 million if the film generated gross box office income similar to Maleficent's $759 million worldwide gross.[37]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Principal photography on the film began at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, on May 18, 2015.[11][38][39] Filming with the principal actors concluded on August 21.[40][41] Six days later, co-producer Jack Morrissey confirmed that the film had officially wrapped production.[42]

text: The Beast was portrayed with a “more traditional motion capture puppeteering for the body and the physical orientation", where actor Dan Stevens was "in a forty-pound gray suit on stilts for much of the film". The facial capture for the Beast was done separately in order to "communicate the subtleties of the human face" and "[capture the] thought that occurs to him" which gets "through [to] the eyes, which are the last human element in the Beast.” The castle servants who are transformed into household objects were created with CGI animation.[6]

text: Before the release of the film, Bill Condon refilmed one certain sequence in the "Days of the Sun" number, due to confusion among test audiences caused by actress Harriet Jones, who looked similar to Hattie Morahan, who portrayed Agathe. In the original version of the scene, it was Jones' character, the Prince's mother, who sings the first verse of the song, with Rudi Goodman playing the young Prince and Henry Garrett playing his father; but in the reshot version of the scene, the singing part is given to the Prince (now played by Adam Mitchell). The King was also recast to Tom Turner, although Harriet Jones was still the Queen, albeit with dark hair. Both Goodman and Garrett's names were mistakenly featured in the original theatrical release's credits, but was later corrected in home releases.[20]

text: Music[edit]

text: When released in 1991, Beauty and the Beast marked a turning point for Walt Disney Pictures by appealing to millions of fans with its Oscar-winning musical score by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. In Bill Condon's opinion, that original score was the key reason he agreed to direct a live-action version of the movie. "That score had more to reveal", he says, "You look at the songs and there's not a clunker in the group. In fact, Frank Rich described it as the best Broadway musical of 1991. The animated version was already darker and more modern than the previous Disney fairytales. Take that vision, put it into a new medium, make it a radical reinvention, something not just for the stage because it's not just being literal, now other elements come into play. It's not just having real actors do it".[43]

text: Condon initially prepared on only drawing inspiration from the original film, but he also planned to include most of the songs composed by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman and Tim Rice from the Broadway musical, with the intention of making the film as a "straight-forward, live-action, large-budget movie musical".[44] Menken returned to score the film's music, which features songs from the original film by him and Howard Ashman, plus new material written by Menken and Tim Rice.[45] Menken said the film will not include songs that were written for the Broadway musical and instead, created four new songs.[46] However, an instrumental version of the song "Home", which was written for the musical, is used during the scene where Belle first enters her room in the castle.[47]

text: On January 19, 2017, it was confirmed by both Disney and Céline Dion - singer of the original 1991 Beauty and the Beast duet song, with singer Peabo Bryson - that Dion would be performing one of the new original songs "How Does a Moment Last Forever" to play over the end titles.[48] She originally had doubts about whether or not to record the song due to the recent death of her husband and manager René Angélil, who had previously helped her secure the 1991 pop duet. While ultimately accepting the opportunity, she said: "[The] first Beauty and the Beast decision was made with my husband. Now I'm making decisions on my own. It's a little bit harder. I couldn't say yes right away, because I felt like I was kind of cheating in a way".[18] She eventually felt compelled to record the song because of the impact Beauty and the Beast has had on her career. According to Dion, "I was at the beginning of my career, it put me on the map, it put me where I am today".[9] Also, Josh Groban was announced to be performing the new original song "Evermore" on January 26, 2017.[49][50][51][52]

text: The 2017 film features a remake of the 1991 original song Beauty and the Beast recorded as a duet by Ariana Grande and John Legend.[53][54] Grande and Legend's updated version of the Beauty and the Beast title song is faithful to the original, Grammy-winning duet, performed by Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson for the 1991 Disney film.[55]

text: Emma Thompson also performed a rendition of "Beauty and the Beast", which was performed by Angela Lansbury in the original 1991 animated film release.[56]

text: Disney debuted the music video for Ariana Grande and John Legend's interpretation of the title song "Beauty and the Beast" on Freeform television network on March 5, 2017, and it has since attained over 100 million video views on the Vevo video hosting service.[56]

text: Release[edit]

text: On March 16, 2015, Disney announced the film would be released in 3D on March 17, 2017.[11] The first official presentation of the film took place at Disney's three-day D23 Expo in August 2015.[57]

text: The world premiere of Beauty and the Beast took place on February 23, 2017, at Spencer House in London, England;[58] and the film later premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 2, 2017. The stream was broadcast onto YouTube.

text: A sing along version of the film released in over 1,200 US theaters nationwide on April 7, 2017.[59] The United Kingdom received the same version on April 21, 2017.[citation needed]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: Disney spent around $140 million for marketing the film worldwide.[60] Following an announcement on May 22, 2016,[61] Disney premiered the first official teaser trailer on Good Morning America the next day.[62] In its first 24 hours, the teaser trailer reached 91.8 million views, which topped the number of views seen in that amount of time in history, including for the teasers for other films distributed by Disney such as Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Captain America: Civil War.[63] This record has since been broken by Thor: Ragnarok and It.[64] The first official teaser poster was released on July 7, 2016.[65] On November 2, 2016, Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official image on the cover of their magazine for the week along with nine new photos as well.[66][67] One week later, Emma Watson and Disney debuted a new poster for the film.[68] On November 14, 2016, the first theatrical trailer was released again on Good Morning America.[69] The trailer reached 127.6 million views in its first 24 hours, setting a new record as the trailer with the most views in one day, beating out Fifty Shades Darker.[70] This record has since been broken again by The Fate of the Furious.[71] A TV spot with Watson singing was shown during the 74th Golden Globe Awards.[72] Disney released the final trailer on January 30, 2017.[73]

text: Home media[edit]

text: Beauty and the Beast was released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on June 6, 2017.[74] The film debuted at No. 1 on the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart, with all other titles in the top 20, collectively, selling only 40% as many units as Beauty and the Beast.[75] The movie regained the top spot on the national home video sales charts during its third week of release.[76] The movie became available on Netflix on September 19, 2017.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: Beauty and the Beast grossed $504 million in the United States and Canada and $758.6 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $1.262 billion.[a] With a production budget of $160 million, it is the second-most expensive musical ever made; only Hello, Dolly! (1969) with a budget of $25 million ($165 million in 2016 dollars) cost more.[4] In just ten days, it became the highest-grossing live-action musical of all time, beating the nine-year-old record held by Mamma Mia!. It is currently the second biggest musical ever overall, behind Disney's Frozen (2013).[78] Worldwide, the film proved to be a global phenomenon, earning a total of $357 million over its four-day opening weekend from 56 markets. Critics said the film was playing like superhero movies amongst women. It was the second biggest March global opening, behind only Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the thirteenth-biggest worldwide opening ever and the seventh-biggest for Disney.[79] This includes $21 million from IMAX plays on 1,026 screens, a new record for an IMAX PG title.[80] It surpassed the entire lifetime total of the original film in just six days.[81][82]

text: Beauty and the Beast is the 300th digitally remastered release in IMAX company's history, which began with the re-release of Apollo 13 in 2002. Its robust global debut helped push the company past $6 billion for the first time,[83] and led to analysts believing that the film had a shot of passing $1 billion worldwide from theatrical earnings.[84][85][86][87] On April 12, it passed the $1 billion threshold, becoming the first film of 2017, the fourteenth Disney film, and the twenty-ninth film overall to pass the mark. It became the first film since Rogue One (also a Disney property) in December 2016 to make over a billion dollars, and did so on its twenty-ninth day of release.[88][89][90] It is currently the highest-grossing film of 2017,[91] the highest-grossing March release,[92] the highest-grossing remake of all-time,[93] and the fifth biggest Disney film.[94] Even after inflation adjusted, it is still ahead of the $425 million gross ($760 million in 2017 dollars) of the original film.[93]

text: North America[edit]

text: In the United States and Canada, Beauty and the Beast topped Fandango's pre-sales and became the fastest-selling family film in the company's history, topping the studio's own animated film Finding Dory released the previous year. Early tracking had the film grossing around $100 million in its opening weekend, with some publications predicting it could reach $130 million.[95][96][97] By the time the film's release was 10 days away, analysts raised projections to as high as $150 million.[98][99] It earned $16.3 million from Thursday previews night, marking the biggest of 2017 (breaking Logan's record), the biggest ever for a Disney live-action film (breaking Maleficent's record), the second biggest ever for both a G or PG-rated film (behind the sixth Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which also starred Watson), and the third biggest ever in the month of March (behind Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and The Hunger Games).[100] An estimated 41% of the gross came from IMAX, 3D and premium large format screenings which began at 6 pm, while the rest – 59% – came from regular 2D shows which began at 7 p.m.[101] The numbers were considered more impressive given that the film played during a school week.[102]

text: On its opening day, the film made $63.8 million from 4,210 theaters across 9,200 screens, marking the third biggest in the month of March, trailing behind Batman v Superman ($81.5 million) and The Hunger Games ($67 million).[103][104] It was also the biggest opening day ever for a film that wasn't PG-13, displacing the $58 million opening Wednesday of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Its opening day alone (which includes Thursday's previews) almost matched the entire opening weekend of previous Disney live-action films, Maleficent ($69.4 million) and Cinderella ($67.9 million).[105] Unlike all previous four Disney live-action films witnessing a hike on their second day, Saturday, Beauty and the Beast actually fell -2%, but nevertheless, the dip was paltry, and the grosses are so much bigger compared to the other titles.[83] Earning a total of $174.8 million on its opening weekend, it defied all expectations and went on to set numerous notable records.[106] This includes the biggest opening of the year as well as the biggest for the month of March and pre-summer/spring opening, beating Batman v Superman,[107][108] the biggest start ever for a PG title (also for a family film), surpassing Finding Dory,[109] the biggest debut of all time for a female-fueled film, ahead of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,[110] the biggest for a Disney live-action adaptation, ahead of Alice in Wonderland[110] and the biggest musical debut ever, supplanting Pitch Perfect 2. Furthermore, it is also Watson's highest-opening, beating Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 same with Emma Thompson, director Bill Condon's biggest debut ever ahead of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and the biggest outside of summer, save for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, not accounting for inflation.[106]

text: It became the forty-third film to debut with over $100 million and the fifteenth film to open above $150 million. Its three-day opening alone surpassed the entire original North American run of the first film ($146 million; before the 3D re-release), instantly becoming the second biggest film of the year, behind Logan ($184 million), and also the second highest-grossing musical, behind Grease's $188 million cumulative gross in 1978.[111] 70% of the total ticket sales came from 2D showings signifying that people who don't go to theaters frequently came out in bulk to watch the film. About 26% of the remaining tickets were for 3D. IMAX accounted for 7% ($12.5 million) of the total weekend's gross, setting a new record for a PG title, ahead of Alice in Wonderland ($12.1 million) while PLF repped 11% of the box office.[83] 70% of the film's opening day demographic was female, dropping to 60% through the weekend.[110] According polling service PostTrak, about 84 percent of American parents who saw the film on its opening day said they would "definitely" recommend it for families.[112][113] The film's opening was credited to positive word of mouth from audiences, good reviews from critics, effective marketing which sold the title not just as a family film but also as a romantic drama, the cast's star power (especially Emma Watson), lack of competition, being the first family film since The Lego Batman Movie a month earlier, nostalgia, and the success and ubiquity of the first film and Disney's brand.[112][114]

text: On Monday, its fourth day of release, the film fell precipitously by 72% earning $13.5 million. The steep fall was due to a limited marketplace where only 11% K-12 and 15% colleges were off per ComScore. Nevertheless, it is the second biggest March Monday, behind Batman v Superman ($15 million).[115] This was followed by the biggest March and pre-summer Tuesday with $17.8 million, a +32% increase from its previous day. The same day, the film passed $200 million in ticket sales.[116] It earned $228.6 million in the first week of release, the sixth-biggest seven-day gross of all time.[117] In its second weekend, the film continued to maintain the top positioning and fell gradually by 48% earning another $90.4 million to register the fourth-biggest second weekend of all time, and the third-biggest for Disney.[118] In terms of percentage drop, its 48% decline is the third-smallest drop for any film opening above $125 million (behind Finding Dory and The Force Awakens).[78] The hold was notable considering how the film was able to fend off three new wide release; Power Rangers, Life, and CHiPs.[119] As a result, it passed the $300 million threshold becoming the first film of 2017 the pass said mark.[120] The film grossed $45.4 million in its third weekend, finally being overtaken for the top spot by newcomer The Boss Baby ($50.2 million).[121] On April 4, 2017, its nineteenth day of release, it passed the $400 million threshold becoming the first film of 2017 to do so.[122] By its fourth weekend, the film began was playing in 3,969 cinemas, a fall of 241 theaters from its previous weekend. Of those, approximately 1,200 cinemas were sing-along versions. It earned $26.3 million (-48%) and retained second place. By comparison, previous Disney films Moana (−8%) and Frozen (−2%) both witnessed mild percentage declines the weekend their sing-alone versions were released.[123] Its seventh weekend of release was in contemporaneous with another Emma Watson-starring new film The Circle.[124] That weekend, The Circle was number four, while Beauty and the Beast was at number six.[125] By May 28, the film had earned over $500 million in ticket sales becoming the first (and currently only) film of 2017, the third female-fueled film (after The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story followed by Wonder Woman) and the eighth overall film in cinematic history to pass the mark.[126][127][128]

text: It has already become the biggest March release, dethroning The Hunger Games (2012),[129] the biggest musical film (both animated and live-action),[130] as well as the biggest film of 2017.[131]

text: Outside North America[edit]

text: Internationally, the film began playing on Thursday, March 16, 2017. Through Sunday, March 19, it had a total international opening of $182.3 million from 55 markets, 44 of which were major territories, far exceeding initial estimations of $100 million and opened at No. 1 in virtually all markets except Vietnam, Turkey, and India. Its launch is the second biggest for the month of March, behind Batman v Superman ($256.5 million). In IMAX, it recorded the biggest debut for a PG title (although it carried varying certificate amongst different markets) with $8.5 million from 649 screens, the second biggest for a PG title behind The Jungle Book.[132] In its second weekend, it fell just by -35% earning another $120.6 million and maintaining its first position hold. It added major markets like France and Australia.[133] It top the international box office for three consecutive weekends[134] before finally being dethroned by Ghost in the Shell and The Boss Baby in its fourth weekend. Despite the fall, the film helped Disney push past the $1 billion thresold internationally for the first time in 2017.[135][90]

text: It scored the biggest opening day of the year in Hong Kong and the Philippines, the biggest March Thursday in Italy ($1 million, also the biggest Disney Thursday debut), the biggest March opening day in Austria, and the second biggest in Germany ($1.1 million), Disney's biggest March in Denmark, the biggest Disney live-action debut in China ($12.6 million), the UK ($6.2 million), Mexico ($2.4 million) and Brazil ($1.8 million) and the third biggest in South Korea with $1.2 million, behind only Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.[136][137] In terms of opening weekend, the largest debut came from China ($44.8 million), followed by the UK ($24.3 million), Korea ($11.8 million), Mexico ($11.8 million), Australia ($11.1 million), Brazil ($11 million), Germany ($10.7 million), France ($8.4 million), Italy ($7.6 million), Philippines ($6.3 million), Russia ($6 million) and Spain ($5.8 million).[132][133]

text: In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film recorded the biggest opening ever for a PG film, the biggest Disney live-action opening of all time, the biggest March opening weekend, the biggest opening for a musical (ahead of 2012's Les Misérables), the number one opening of 2017 to date and the fifth-biggest ever overall with £19.7 million ($24.5 million) from 639 theatres and almost twice that of The Jungle Book (£9.9 million).[138] This included the second biggest Saturday ever (£7.9 million), only behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens.[139] It witnessed a decline in its second weekend, earning £12.33 million ($15.4 million). Though the film was falling at a faster rate than The Jungle Book, it had already surpassed the said film and its second weekend is the third biggest ever (behind the two James Bond films Skyfall (2012) and Spectre).[140][133] In India, despite facing heavy competitions from four new Hindi releases, two Tamils films and a Malayalam and a Punjabi release, the film managed to take an occupancy of 15% on its opening day, an impressive feat despite tremendous competitions.[141][142][143] It earned around ₹1.5 crore (US$230,000) nett on its opening day from an estimated 600 screens which is more than the three Hindi releases – Machine, Trapped and Aa Gaya Hero – combined.[144] Disney reported a total of ₹9.26 crore (US$1.4 million) gross for its opening weekend there. It was ahead of all new releases and second overall behind Bollywood film Badrinath Ki Dulhania.[145][146][147] In Russia, despite receiving a restrictive 16 rating, the film managed to deliver a very successful opening with $6 million.[148]

text: In China, expectations were high for the film. The release date was announced on January 24, giving Disney and local distributor China Film Group Corporation ample time – around two months – to market the film nationwide. The release date was strategically chosen to coincide with White Day. Preliminary reports suggested that it could open to $40–60 million in its opening weekend. Largely driven by young women, its opening day pre-sales outpaced that of The Jungle Book.[149] The original film was however never widely popular in the country.[150] Although China has occasionally blocked gay-themed content from streaming video services, in this case, Chinese censors decided to leave the gay scene intact. According to local box office tracker Ent Group, the film grossed an estimated $12.1 million on its opening day (Friday), representing 70% of the total receipts. Including previews, it made a total of $14.5 million from 100,000 screenings, which is 43% of all screenings in the country.[151] It climbed to $18.5 million on Saturday (102,700 showings) for a three-day total of $42.6 million, securing 60% of the total marketplace. Disney on the other hand reported a different figure of $44.8 million.[152][153] Either ways, it recorded the second biggest opening for a Disney live-action film,[150] with $3.4 million coming from 386 IMAX screens.[132] Japan – a huge Disney market – served as the film's final market and opened there on April 21[133] It debuted with a better-than-expected $12.5 million on its opening weekend helping the film push past the $1.1 billion threshold. An estimated $1.1 million came from IMAX screenings, the fourth-biggest ever in the country.[154][155] The two day gross was $9.7 million, outstripping Frozen's previous record of $9.5 million.[156] Due to positive reviews, good word-of-mouth and benefitting from the Golden Week, the film saw a 9% increase on its second weekend. The hold was strong enough to fend off newcomer The Fate of the Furious from securing the top spot. The total there is now over $98 million after seven weekends[157][158][159] and is the biggest film release of the year and overall the eleventh biggest of all time.[160] It topped the box office there for eight consecutive weekends.[161][162]

text: The only markets where the film did not top the weekend charts were Vietnam (behind Kong: Skull Island), Turkey (with two local movies and Logan ahead) and India (where Badrinath Ki Dulhania retained No. 1).[132] It topped the box office for four straight weekends in Germany, Korea, Austria, Finland, Poland, Portugal, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Switzerland and the UK (exclusive of previews).[135][163] In the Philippines, it emerged as the most commercial successful film of all time – both local and foreign – with over $13.5 million.[164] In just five weeks, the film became one of the top 10 highest-grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom and Ireland, ahead of all but one Harry Potter film (Deathly Hallows – Part 2) and all three The Lord of the Rings movies (which also starred Ian McKellen).[165] It is currently the eighth biggest grosser with £70.1 million ($90 million), overtaking Mamma Mia! to become the biggest musical production ever there.[154][166] The biggest international earning markets following the UK are Japan ($108 million), China ($85.8 million), Brazil ($41.5 million), Korea ($37.5 million), and Australia ($35 million).[161] In Europe alone, the cumulative total is $267 million to become the second-highest-grossing film in the past 1 year (behind Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).[167][154][157]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: Beauty and the Beast received generally positive reviews, with praise for the faithfulness to the original film with a few elements of the Broadway musical version, cast performances, visuals, Jacqueline Durran's costume designs, Alan Menken's musical score and songs, though the designs of the Beast and the servants' household object forms received mixed reviews.[168][169] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 294 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With an enchanting cast, beautifully crafted songs, and a painterly eye for detail, Beauty and the Beast offers a faithful yet fresh retelling that honors its beloved source material."[170] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 65 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[171] In CinemaScore polls, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[172][173]

text: Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "It's a Michelin-triple-starred master class in patisserie skills that transforms the cinematic equivalent of a sugar rush into a kind of crystal-meth-like narcotic high that lasts about two hours." Felperin also praised the performances of Watson and Kline as well the special effects, costume designs and the sets while commended the inclusion of Gad's character of LeFou as the first LGBT character in Disney.[174] Owen Gleiberman of Variety, in his positive review of the film, wrote: "It's a lovingly crafted movie, and in many ways a good one, but before that it's an enraptured piece of old-is-new nostalgia." Gleiberman compared Steven's character of the Beast to a royal version of the titular character in The Elephant Man and the 1946 version of the Beast in Jean Cocteau's original adaptation.[175] A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised the performances of both Watson and Stevens, and wrote: "It looks good, moves gracefully and leaves a clean and invigorating aftertaste. I almost didn't recognize the flavor: I think the name for it is joy."[176] Likewise, The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday complimented Watson's performance, describing it as "alert and solemn" while noting her singing ability as "serviceable enough to get the job done".[177] Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three and a half stars, lauded the performances of Watson and Thompson which he drew a comparison to Paige O'Hara's and Angela Lansbury's performances in the 1991 animated version while appreciating the performances of the other cast and also pointing out on its usage of the combination of motion capture and CGI technology as a big advantage which he stated: "Almost overwhelmingly lavish, beautifully staged and performed with exquisite timing and grace by the outstanding cast".[178] Mike Ryan of Uproxx praised the cast, production design and the new songs while noting the film doesn't try anything different, saying: "There's certainly nothing that new about this version of Beauty and the Beast (well, except it isn't a cartoon anymore), but it's a good recreation of a classic animated film that should leave most die-hards satisfied."[179] In her A- review, Nancy Churnin of The Dallas Morning News praised the film's emotional and thematic depth: "There's an emotional authenticity in director Bill Condon's live-action Beauty and the Beast film that helps you rediscover Disney's beloved 1991 animated film and 1994 stage show in fresh, stirring ways."[180]

text: Brian Truitt of USA Today commended the performances of Evans, Gad, McGregor and Thompson alongside Condon's affinity with musicals, the production design, visual effects featured in some of the song numbers including new songs made by the composers Alan Menken and Tim Rice, particularly Evermore which he described the new song with a potential for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.[181] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated the film three out of four stars which he deemed it as an "exhilarating gift" while he remarked that "Beauty and the Beast does justice to Disney's animated classic, even if some of the magic is M.I.A (Missing in Action)."[182] Stephanie Zacharek of Time magazine gave a positive review with a description as "Wild, Vivid and Crazy-Beautiful" as she wrote "Nearly everything about Beauty and the Beast is larger than life, to the point that watching it can be a little overwhelming." and added that "it’s loaded with feeling, almost like a brash interpretive dance expressing the passion and elation little girls (and some boys, too) must have felt upon seeing the earlier version."[183] The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle struck an affirmative tone, calling it one of the joys of 2017, stating that "Beauty and the Beast creates an air of enchantment from its first moments, one that lingers and builds and takes on qualities of warmth and generosity as it goes along" while referring the film as "beautiful" and also praised the film for its emotional and psychological tone as well Steven's motion capture performance.[184] Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph gave the film four stars out of five and wrote that "It dazzles on this chocolate box of a picture that feels almost greedy yet to make this film work, down to a sugar-rush finale to grasp the nettle and make an out-an-out, bells-and-whistles musical" while he praised the performances of Watson, McKellen, Thompson, McGregor, Evans and Gad.[185] Mark Hughes of Forbes also similarly praised the film which he wrote that "it could revive the story in a faithful but entirely new and unique way elevating the material beyond expectations, establishing itself as a cinematic equal to the original" and also complimented the importance of undertaking a renowned yet problematic masterpiece as well addressing changes in the elements of the story while acknowledging the film's effectiveness in resonating to the audiences.[186]

text: Several critics regarded the film as inferior to its 1991 animated predecessor. David Sims of The Atlantic wrote that the 2017 film "feels particularly egregious, in part, because it’s so slavishly devoted to the original; every time it falls short of its predecessor (which is quite often), it’s hard not to notice".[187] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune said that the 2017 film "takes our knowledge and our interest in the material for granted. It zips from one number to another, throwing a ton of frenetically edited eye candy at the screen, charmlessly." Phillips wrote that the film featured some "less conspicuously talented" performers who are "stuck doing karaoke, or motion-capture work of middling quality", though he praised Kline's performance as the "best, sweetest thing in the movie; he brings a sense of calm, droll authority".[188] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised Watson's performance and wrote that the film was "lit in that fascinatingly artificial honey-glow light, and it runs smoothly on rails – the kind of rails that bring in and out the stage sets for the lucrative Broadway touring version." In the same newspaper, Wendy Ide criticized the film as "ornate to the point of desperation" in its attempt to emulate the animated film.[189][190]

text: Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B-, writing that while the film looks "exceptionally great", he sensed that the new songs were "not transporting". He felt the film needed more life and depth, but praised Watson's and Steven's performances as the "film’s stronger elements".[191] Dana Schwartz of The Observer felt that some of the characters, such as Gaston and the Beast, had been watered down from the 1991 film, and that the additional backstory elements failed to "advance the plot or theme in any meaningful way" while adding considerable bloat. Schwartz considered the singing of the cast to be adequate but felt that their voices should have been dubbed over, especially for the complex songs.[192]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
Award
Date of ceremony
Category
Recipient(s) and nominee(s)
Result
Ref.

MTV Movie & TV Awards
May 7, 2017
Movie of the Year
Beauty and the Beast
Won
[193]

Best Actor in a Movie
Emma Watson

Best Kiss
Emma Watson and Dan Stevens
Nominated

Best Duo
Josh Gad and Luke Evans

Golden Trailer Awards
June 6, 2017
Best Animation/Family
Beauty and the Beast
[194]

Best Original Score

Best Animation/Family TV Spot

Best Fantasy Adventure TV Spot

Teen Choice Awards
August 13, 2017
Choice Movie: Fantasy
Won
[195]
[196]

Choice Movie: Fantasy Actor
Dan Stevens
Nominated

Choice Movie: Fantasy Actress
Emma Watson
Won

Choice Movie Villain
Luke Evans

Choice Movie Ship
Emma Watson and Dan Stevens

Choice Liplock

Choice Scene Stealer
Josh Gad
Nominated

Choice Hissy Fit
Luke Evans

Dan Stevens

tag: table

text: Controversies[edit]

text: Gay character[edit]

text: Controversy erupted after director Bill Condon said there was a "gay moment" in the film, when LeFou briefly waltzes with Stanley, one of Gaston's friends.[197] Afterwards in an interview with Vulture.com, Condon stated, "Can I just say, I’m sort of sick of this. Because you’ve seen the movie—it's such a tiny thing, and it’s been overblown." Condon also added that Beauty and the Beast features much more diversity than just the highly-talked-about LeFou: "That was so important. We have interracial couples—this is a celebration of everybody's individuality, and that’s what’s exciting about it.”[198] GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis praised the move stating, "It is a small moment in the film, but it is a huge leap forward for the film industry."[199]

text: In Russia, Vitaly Milonov agitated the culture minister for banning the film,[200] but instead it was given a 16+ rating (children under the age of 16 can only be admitted to see it in theaters with accompanying adults).[201] Additionally, a theater in Henagar, Alabama did not screen the film because of the subplot.[202] In Malaysia, the Film Censorship Board insisted the "gay moment" scene be cut, prompting an indefinite postponement of its release by Disney, followed by their decision to withdraw it completely if it could not be released uncensored.[203][204][205] The studio moved the release date to March 30, to allow more time for Malaysia's censor board to make a decision on whether or not to release the film without changes.[206] The distributors and producers then submitted an appeal to the Film Appeal Committee of Malaysia, which allowed the film to be released without any cuts and a P13 rating on the grounds that the "gay element" was minor and did not affect the positive elements featured in the film.[207][208] In Kuwait, the movie was withdrawn from cinemas by National Cinema Company which owns most of the cinemas in the country. A board member of the company stated that the Ministry of Information's censorship department had requested it to stop its screening and edit it for things deemed offensive by it.[209]

text: There were also a number of boycotts against the film. A call to boycott on LifePetitions received over 129,000 signatures,[210] while the American Family Association featured a petition to boycott with the film, asking the public to help crowdfund a CGI version of Pilgrim's Progress instead.[211]

text: Belle and the Beast's relationship[edit]

text: Disney has sought to portray Belle as an empowered young woman,[212] but a debate questioning whether it is possible to fall in love with someone who is holding you prisoner, and whether this is a problematic theme, has resulted.[213] As was the case with the original animated film, one argument is that Belle suffers from Stockholm syndrome (a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity). Emma Watson studied whether Belle is trapped in an abusive relationship with the Beast before signing on and concluded that she does not think the criticism fits this version of the folk tale.[214][215] Watson described Stockholm Syndrome as "where a prisoner will take on the characteristics of and fall in love with the captor. Belle actively argues and disagrees with [Beast] constantly. She has none of the characteristics of someone with Stockholm Syndrome because she keeps her independence, she keeps that freedom of thought", also adding that Belle defiantly "gives as good as she gets" before forming a friendship and romance with the Beast.[216]

text: Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, who coined the term "Stockholm syndrome", said he does not think Belle exhibits the trauma symptoms of prisoners suffering from the syndrome because she does not go through a period of feeling that she is going to die.[217] Some therapists, while acknowledging that the pairing's relationship does not meet the clinical definition of Stockholm syndrome, argue that the relationship depicted is dysfunctional and abusive and does not model healthy romantic relationships for young viewers.[218][219] Constance Grady of Vox writes that Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's Beauty and the Beast was a fairy tale originally written to prepare young girls in 18th century France for arranged marriages, and that the power disparity is amplified in the Disney version.[220] Anna Menta of Elite Daily argued that the Beast does not apologize to Belle for imprisoning, hurting, or manipulating her, and his treatment of Belle is not painted as wrong.[221]

text: Notes[edit]

text: ^ Jump up to: a b Beauty and the Beast at Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 14, 2017.

tag: ol


document_title: Bharat Ratna

question_text: who got both bharat ratna and nobel prize

text: Bharat Ratna

text: History[edit]

text: On 2 January 1954, a press communiqué was released from the office of the secretary to the President announcing the creation of two civilian awards—Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, and the three-tier Padma Vibhushan, classified into "Pahela Warg" (Class I), "Dusra Warg" (Class II), and "Tisra Warg" (Class III), which rank below the Bharat Ratna.[2] On 15 January 1955, the Padma Vibhushan was reclassified into three different awards; the Padma Vibhushan, the highest of the three, followed by the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri.[3]

text: There is no formal provision that recipients of the Bharat Ratna should be Indian citizens. It has been awarded to a naturalised Indian citizen, Mother Teresa in 1980, and to two non-Indians, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan of Pakistan in 1987 and the former South African president Nelson Mandela in 1990.[6] Sachin Tendulkar, at the age of 40, became the youngest person and first athlete to receive the honour.[7] In a special ceremony on 18 April 1958, Dhondo Keshav Karve was awarded on his 100th birthday.[8][a] As of 2015, the award has been conferred upon 45 people with 12 posthumous declarations.[10]

text: The award was briefly suspended twice in its history.[11] The first suspension occurred after Morarji Desai was sworn in as the fourth Prime Minister in 1977. His government withdrew all personal civil honours on 13 July 1977.[12][13] The suspension was rescinded on 25 January 1980, after Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister.[14][15] The civilian awards were suspended again in mid-1992, when two Public-Interest Litigations were filed, one in the Kerala High Court and another in the Madhya Pradesh High Court, challenging the "constitutional validity" of the awards.[11] The awards were reintroduced by the Supreme Court in December 1995, following the conclusion of the litigation.[13][16]

text: Regulations[edit]

text: The Bharat Ratna is conferred "in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.[4] The award was originally confined to the arts, literature, science, and public services, as per the 1954 regulations.[2] In December 2011, the rules were changed to include "any field of human endeavour".[5] The 1954 statutes did not allow posthumous awards, but this was subsequently modified in the January 1955 statute, and Lal Bahadur Shastri became the first recipient to be honoured posthumously in 1966.[3][17]

text: Although there is no formal nomination process, recommendations for the award can only be made by the Prime Minister to the President with a maximum number of three nominees being awarded per year. However, in 1999, four individuals were awarded the honour. The recipient receives a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion without any monetary grant. Under the terms of Article 18 (1) of the Constitution,[b] the recipients cannot use the award as a prefix or suffix to their name, although recipients may use either the expressions "Awarded Bharat Ratna by the President" or "Recipient of Bharat Ratna Award" to indicate that they have been honoured with the award.[4] The holders of the Bharat Ratna rank seventh in the Indian order of precedence.[19]

text: As with many official announcements, recipients are announced and registered in The Gazette of India, a publication released by the Department of Publication, Ministry of Urban Development used for official government notices; without publication in the Gazette, conferral of the award is not considered official. Recipients whose awards have been revoked or restored, both of which require the authority of the President, are registered in the Gazette. Recipients whose awards have been revoked are required to surrender their medals, and their names are struck from the register.[2][3]

text: Specifications[edit]

text: The original 1954 specifications of the award was a circle made of gold 1 3⁄8 inches (35 mm) in diameter with a centred sun burst design on the obverse side. The text "Bharat Ratna", in Devanagari Script, is inscribed on the upper edge in silver gilt with a wreath set along on the lower edge. A platinum State Emblem of India was placed in the centre of the reverse side with the national motto, "Satyameva Jayate" (Truth alone triumphs) in Devanagari Script, inscribed in silver-gilt on the lower edge.[2]

text: A year later, the design was modified. The current medal is in the shape of a peepal leaf, approximately 2 5⁄16 inches (59 mm) long, 1 7⁄8 inches (48 mm) wide and 1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm) thick and rimmed in platinum. The embossed sun burst design, made of platinum, on the obverse side of the medal has a diameter of 5⁄8 inch (16 mm) with rays spreading out from 5⁄6 inch (21 mm) to 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) from the center of the Sun. The words "Bharat Ratna" on the obverse side remained the same as the 1954 design as did the emblem of India and "Satyameva Jayate" on the reverse side. A 2-inch-wide (51 mm) white ribbon is attached to the medal so it can be worn around the neck.[3][11][20] In 1957, the silver-gilt decoration was changed to burnished bronze.[2][21] The Bharat Ratna medals are produced at Alipore Mint, Kolkata along with the other civilian and military awards like Padma Vibushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, and Param Veer Chakra.[22]

text: Controversies[edit]

text: The Bharat Ratna has been surrounded by several controversies and multiple Public-Interest Litigations (PIL) had been filed against the conferral of the award.[13][23][24][25][26]

text: On 23 January 1992, a press release was published by the President's Secretariat to confer the award posthumously on Subhash Chandra Bose. The decision triggered much criticism and a PIL was filed in the Calcutta High Court to revoke the award.[23] The petitioner took objection to the conferral of the award and its posthumous mention of Bose, saying that honouring a personality higher than the award is "ridiculous", and it was an act of "carelessness" to classify such a person with past and future recipients. It said that the award cannot be conferred to Bose posthumously as the Government had not officially accepted his death on 18 August 1945. The petitioner requested the whereabouts of Bose from 18 August 1945 till date, based on the information collected by the 1956 Shah Nawaz Committee and the 1970 Khosla Commission. Bose's family members expressed their unwillingness to accept the award.[27][28]

text: To deliver the judgement, the Supreme Court formed a Special Division Bench with Judge Sujata V. Manohar and G. B. Pattanaik. The Solicitor General noted that to confer the award per the appropriate regulations pertaining to the Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Shri, the name of the recipient must be published in The Gazette of India and entered in the recipients register maintained under the direction of the President.[2] It was noted that only an announcement had been made by press communiqué, but the government had not proceeded to confer the award by publishing the name in the Gazette and entering the name in the register. Furthermore, the then presidents, R. Venkataraman (1987–92) and Shankar Dayal Sharma (1992–97), had not conferred a Sanad (certificate) with their signature and seal.[27]

text: On 4 August 1997, the Supreme Court delivered an order that since the award had not been officially conferred, it cannot be revoked and declared that the press communiqué be treated as cancelled. The court declined to pass any judgement on the posthumous mention of Bose and his death.[27][29]

text: In 1992, two PILs were filed in the High Courts; one in the Kerala High Court on 13 February 1992 by Balaji Raghavan and another in the Madhya Pradesh High Court (Indore Bench) on 24 August 1992 by Satya Pal Anand. Both petitioners questioned the civilian awards being "Titles" per an interpretation of Article 18 (1) of the Constitution.[b] On 25 August 1992, the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued a notice temporarily suspending all civilian awards.[13] A Special Division Bench of the Supreme Court was formed comprising five judges; A. M. Ahmadi C. J., Kuldip Singh, B. P. Jeevan Reddy, N. P. Singh, and S. Saghir Ahmad. On 15 December 1995, the Special Division Bench restored the awards and delivered a judgement that the "Bharat Ratna and Padma awards are not titles under Article 18 of the Constitution".[16]

text: Following the announcement, in November 2013, that C. N. R. Rao and Sachin Tendulkar were to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, multiple PILs were filed challenging the conferring of the award. The PIL filed against Rao declared that other Indian scientists, such as Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, had contributed more than Rao and his claim of publishing 1400 research papers was "physically impossible". The suit stated that as Rao had proven cases of plagiarism, he should not be presented with the award but rather should be annulled.[24] The PIL filed against Tendulkar to the Election Commission under the Right to Information Act indicated that the awarding him the Bharat Ratna was a violation of the model code of conduct. The petitioner noted that as Tendulkar was an Indian National Congress nominated Member of Rajya Sabha, the decision to award him the Bharat Ratna would influence the voters of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Mizoram where the election process was underway at the time.[25] Another PIL was filed against Tendulkar and a few ministers, "alleging a conspiracy to ignore" an Indian field hockey player Dhyan Chand."[26][c]

text: On 4 December 2013, the Election Commission rejected the petition stating that conferring the award on people from non-polling states did not amount to a violation of the code.[30] Other High Courts as well rejected the petitions raised against Rao and Tendulkar.[31]

text: Criticism[edit]

text: In 1988, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (1984–89) conferred the Bharat Ratna posthumously on film actor and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. G. Ramachandran, in a bid to influence voters prior to the Tamil Nadu assembly elections in 1989.[32][33] The decision was criticised for awarding Ramachandran before independence activist B. R. Ambedkar and Vallabhbhai Patel, who were bestowed the honour in 1990 and 1991 respectively.[34] While Ravi Shankar was accused of lobbying for the award,[35] the decision by Indira Gandhi to posthumously honour K. Kamaraj was considered to have been aimed at placating Tamil voters for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections in 1977. The seventh Prime Minister V. P. Singh was criticised for posthumously honouring B. R. Ambedkar to please Dalits.[36][32]

text: The posthumous conferments of the award on the recipients who died before the Indian independence in 1947 or the award was instituted in 1954 have been criticised by historians.[37] It was noted that such conferments could lead to more demands to honour people like Maurya Emperor Ashoka,[38] Mughal Emperor Akbar, Maratha Emperor Shivaji, Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore,[39] Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda,[40] and independence activist Bal Gangadhar Tilak.[41] The then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao (1991–96) was criticised for bestowing the award upon Vallabhbhai Patel in 1991, 41 years after his death in 1950; and upon Subhas Chandra Bose in 1992, who went missing since 18 August 1945.[41][42] Similarly in 2015, the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to award Madan Mohan Malaviya, who died in 1946, met with criticism.[41] Janardan Dwivedi, politician of the Indian National Congress, said that Malaviya, who worked predominantly in Varanasi, was "deliberately chosen" by the Prime Minister Modi, who is the incumbent Member of Parliament from Varanasi.[43]

text: A few of the conferments have been criticised for honouring personalities only after they received global recognition.[44] The award for Mother Teresa was announced in 1980, a year after she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Satyajit Ray received an Academy Honorary Award in 1992 followed by the Bharat Ratna the same year.[45][46] In 1999, Amartya Sen was awarded the Bharat Ratna, a year after his 1998 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The award was proposed by President K. R. Narayanan to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who agreed to the proposal.[47][48]

text: Popular demands[edit]

text: Though, as per the statutes for the Bharat Ratna, the recommendations for the award can only be made by the Prime Minister to the President,[4] there have been several demands from various political parties to honour their leaders. In January 2008, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L. K. Advani wrote to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recommending Singh's predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the award.[49][50] This was immediately followed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) lobbying for their leader, Jyoti Basu, former Chief Minister of West Bengal.[51] Basu, India's longest-serving chief minister, said that he would decline the honour, even if awarded.[52] Similar demands were made by Telugu Desam Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, and Shiromani Akali Dal for their respective leaders N. T. Rama Rao, Kanshi Ram, and Parkash Singh Badal.[53] In September 2015, regional political party Shiv Sena demanded the award for the independence activist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar stating that he had been "deliberately neglected by previous governments" but his family clarified that they are not making such demand and that the freedom fighter is known for his contribution towards independence movement and did not need an award for recognition.[54]

text: Per the original statutes, sportspersons were not eligible for the Bharat Ratna; however, a revision of the rules in December 2011 made eligible "any field of human endeavour".[5] Subsequently, several sportspersons' names were discussed; among the most talked-about of these was field-hockey player Dhyan Chand, who was recommended multiple times for the posthumous honour.[55] In 2011, 82 members of parliament recommended Chand's name for the award to the Prime Minister's Office. In January 2012, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports forwarded his name again, this time along with 2008 Summer Olympics gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra and mountaineer Tenzing Norgay.[56] Bindra had earlier been recommended for the award in May 2013 by the National Rifle Association of India.[57] In July 2013, the ministry again recommended Dhyan Chand.[56][58] However, in November 2013, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar became the first sports-person to receive the honour and this garnered much criticism for the government.[7][59]

text: A PIL was filed in the Karnataka High Court where in the petitioner requested the court to issue a direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs to consider their representation dated 26 October 2012 and confer the Bharat Ratna upon Mahatma Gandhi. On 27 January 2014, a counsel appearing for the petitioner noted that after multiple representations from the petitioner, they were provided with the information under RTI that the recommendations to confer the award on Gandhi have been received multiple times in the past and were forwarded to the Prime Minister's Office. A Division bench comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice B.V. Nagarathna dismissed the petition stating that the subject is not amenable to any adjudication process and the nominations and conferment process is stated to be informal and in the discretion of the highest authority in the Government.[60][61]

text: List of recipients[edit]

text:
Key

   + Naturalized citizen recipient

   * Non-citizen recipient

   # Posthumous recipient

text:
List of laureates awarded the Bharat Ratna[10]

Year
Laureates
Notes

1954

C. Rajagopalachari
An Indian independence activist, statesman, and lawyer, Rajagopalachari was the only Indian and last Governor-General of independent India. He was Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (1937–39) and Madras State (1952–54); and founder of Indian political party Swatantra Party.[62]

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Philosopher Radhakrishnan served as India's first Vice-President (1952–62) and second President (1962–67).[63][64] Since 1962, his birthday on 5 September is observed as "Teachers' Day" in India.[65]

C. V. Raman
Widely known for his work on the scattering of light and the discovery of the effect, better known as "Raman scattering", Raman mainly worked in the field of atomic physics and electromagnetism and was presented Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.[66]

1955
 –
Bhagwan Das
Independence activist, philosopher, and educationist, Das is a co-founder of Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith and worked with Madan Mohan Malaviya for the foundation of Banaras Hindu University.[67]

M. Visvesvaraya
Civil engineer, statesman, and Diwan of Mysore (1912–18), Visvesvaraya was a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire. His birthday, 15 September, is observed as "Engineer's Day" in India.[68]

Jawaharlal Nehru
Independence activist and author, Nehru is the first and the longest-serving Prime Minister of India (1947–64).[49][69]

1957

Govind Ballabh Pant
Independence activist Pant was premier of United Provinces (1937–39, 1946–50) and first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (1950–54). He served as Union Home Minister from 1955–61.[70]

1958

Dhondo Keshav Karve
Social reformer and educator, Karve is widely known for his works related to woman education and remarriage of Hindu widows. He established the Widow Marriage Association (1883), Hindu Widows Home (1896), and started Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University in 1916.[8][71]

1961
 –
Bidhan Chandra Roy
A physician, political leader, philanthropist, educationist, and social worker, Roy is often considered as "Maker of Modern West Bengal".[72] He was second Chief Minister of West Bengal (1948–62) and his birthday on 1 July is observed as National Doctors' Day in India.[51]

 –
Purushottam Das Tandon
Often titled as "Rajarshi", Tandon was an independence activist and served as speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (1937–50). He was actively involved in a campaign to get official language status to Hindi.[73]

1962

Rajendra Prasad
Independence activist, lawyer, statesman, and scholar,[74] Prasad was closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi in the non-cooperation movement for Indian independence.[75] He was later elected as the first President of India (1950–62).[63]

1963
 –
Zakir Husain
Independence activist and education philosopher, Husain served as a Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (1948–56) and the Governor of Bihar (1957–62).[76] Later, he was elected as second Vice-President of India (1962–67) and went on to become the third President of India (1967–69).[63][64]

Pandurang Vaman Kane
Indologist and Sanskrit scholar,[77] Kane is best known for his five volume literary work, History of Dharmaśāstra: Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India; the "monumental" work that extends over nearly 6,500 pages and being published from 1930 to 1962.[78]

1966

Lal Bahadur Shastri[i]#
Known for his slogan "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" ("Hail the Soldier, Hail the Farmer"),[79] Independence activist Shastri served as second Prime Minister of India (1964–66) and led the country during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.[49][80]

1971

Indira Gandhi
Known as the "Iron Lady of India",[81] Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India during 1966–77 and 1980–84.[49] During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, her government supported Bangladesh Liberation War which led to the formation of a new country, Bangladesh.[82]

1975
 –
V. V. Giri
While studying at the University College Dublin, Giri was involved in the Irish Sinn Féin movement. Returning to India, he organized labour unions and brought them to take active participation in Indian freedom struggle. He was elected as the first President of All India Trade Union Congress in 1926. Post-independence, Giri held positions of Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Mysore and various other cabinet ministries. He became the first acting President and was eventually elected as the fourth President of India (1969–74).[63][83][84]

1976

K. Kamaraj[ii]#
Independence activist and statesman Kamaraj was a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for three terms; 1954–57, 1957–62, and 1962–63.[85][86]

1980

Mother Teresa +
"Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta" was a catholic nun and the founder of the Missionaries of Charity. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work in 1979 and was beatified on 19 October 2003 by Pope John Paul II and canonised on 4 September 2016 by Pope Francis.[87]

1983

Vinoba Bhave[iii]#
Independence activist, social reformer, and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhave is best known for his Bhoodan movement, "Land-Gift Movement".[88] He was given the honorific title "Acharya" ("teacher") and was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award (1958) for his humanitarian work.[89]

1987

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan*
Widely known as "Frontier Gandhi", independence activist and Pashtun leader Khan was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. He joined Khilafat Movement in 1920 and founded Khudai Khidmatgar ("Red Shirt movement") in 1929.[90]

1988

M. G. Ramachandran[iv][d]#
Actor turned politician Ramachandran served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for three terms; 1977–80, 1980–84, 1985–87.[85]

1990

B. R. Ambedkar[v]#
Social reformer and leader of the Dalits ("Untouchables"),[92] Ambedkar was the Chief architect of the Indian Constitution and also served as the first Law Minister of India.[93] Ambedkar predominantly campaigned against the social discrimination with Dalits, the Hindu varna system.[94] He was associated with the Dalit Buddhist movement and accepted Buddhism as a religion along with his close to half a million followers on 14 October 1956.[95]

Nelson Mandela*
Leader of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa, Mandela was the President of South Africa (1994–99).[96] Often called as the "Gandhi of South Africa",[97] Mandela's African National Congress movement was influenced by Gandhian philosophy.[98] In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[99]

1991

Rajiv Gandhi[vi]#
Gandhi was the ninth Prime Minister of India serving from 1984 to 1989.[49]

Vallabhbhai Patel[vii]#
Widely known as the "Iron Man of India",[100] Patel was an independence activist and first Deputy Prime Minister of India (1947–50). Post independence, "Sardar" ("Leader") Patel worked with V. P. Menon towards dissolving 555 princely states into the Indian union.[101][102]

Morarji Desai[e]
Independence activist Desai was the sixth Prime Minister of India (1977–79).[49] He is the only Indian national to be awarded the Nishan-e-Pakistan, highest civilian award given by the Government of Pakistan.[104]

1992

Abul Kalam Azad[viii][f]#
Independence activist Azad was India's first Minister of Education and worked towards free primary education. He was widely known as "Maulana Azad" and his birthday on 11 November is observed as National Education Day in India.
[107]

J. R. D. Tata
Industrialist, philanthropist, and aviation pioneer, Tata founded India's first airline Air India. He is the founder of various institutes including Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Tata Memorial Hospital, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Tata Motors, TCS, National Institute of Advanced Studies, and National Centre for the Performing Arts.[108]

Satyajit Ray
Having debuted as a director with Pather Panchali (1955),[109] film-maker Ray is credited with bringing world recognition to Indian cinema.[110] In 1984, Ray was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema.[111]

1997

Gulzarilal Nanda
Independence activist Nanda was two times interim Prime Minister of India (1964, 1966) and two times deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.[49][112]

 –
Aruna Asaf Ali[ix]#
Independence activist Ali is better known for hoisting the Indian flag in Bombay during the Quit India Movement in 1942. Post Independence, Ali was elected as Delhi's first mayor in 1958.[113]

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Aerospace and defence scientist, Kalam was involved in the development of India's first satellite launch vehicle SLV III and was the architect of Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. He worked for Indian National Committee for Space Research, Indian Space Research Organisation, Defence Research and Development Laboratory and was appointed as the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister, Secretary to Department of Defence Research and Development and Director General of Defence Research and Development Organisation.[114] Later, he served as the eleventh President of India from 2002 till 2007.[63]

1998

M. S. Subbulakshmi
Carnatic classical vocalist Subbulakshmi, often hailed as "Queen of songs", is the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award.[115]

Chidambaram Subramaniam
Independence activist and former Minister of Agriculture of India (1964–66), Subramaniam is known for his contribution towards Green Revolution in India. During the late 1970s, he worked for International Rice Research Institute, Manila, and the International Maize and Wheat Research Institute, Mexico.[116]

1999
 –
Jayaprakash Narayan[x]#
Independence activist, social reformer, and commonly referred as "Lok Nayak" ("People's Hero"), Narayan is better known for "Total Revolution Movement" or "JP Movement" initiated during the mid-1970s to "overthrow the corrupt and exploitative Congress government".[117]

Amartya Sen
Winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (1998),[118] Sen has done research over several topics including social choice theory, ethics and political philosophy, welfare economics, decision theory, development economics, public health, and gender studies.[119]

Gopinath Bordoloi[xi]#
Independence activist Bordoloi is the first Chief Minister of Assam (1946–50).[120] His efforts and association with the then Minister of Home Affairs Vallabhbhai Patel were widely acknowledged while keeping Assam united with India when parts of it were to merge with East Pakistan.[121]

Ravi Shankar
Winner of four Grammy Awards and often considered "the world's best-known exponent of Hindustani classical music", sitar player Shankar is known for his collaborative work with Western musicians including Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison.[122]

2001

Lata Mangeshkar
Widely credited as the "nightingale of India",[123] playback singer Mangeshkar started her career in the 1940s and has sung songs in over 36 languages.[124] In 1989, Mangeshkar was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest award in cinema.[111]

Bismillah Khan
Hindustani classical shehnai player, Khan played the instrument for more than eight decades and is credited to have brought the instrument to the centre stage of Indian music.[125]

2009

Bhimsen Joshi
Hindustani classical vocalist, Joshi was a disciple of Kirana gharana, an Indian musical school. He is widely known for the Khyal genre of singing with a "mastery over rhythm and accurate notes".[126][127]

2014

C. N. R. Rao
The recipient of Honorary Doctorates from 63 Universities including Purdue, IIT Bombay, Oxford, chemist and professor Rao has worked prominently in the fields of Solid State and Materials Chemistry, Spectroscopy and Molecular Structure. He has authored around 1600 research papers and 48 books.[128]

Sachin Tendulkar
Having debuted in 1989, Tendulkar played 664 international cricket matches in a career spanning over two decades. He holds various cricket records including the only player to have scored one hundred international centuries, the first batsman to score a double century in a One Day International and the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in both ODI and Test cricket.[129][130]

2015

Madan Mohan Malaviya[xii]#
Scholar and educational reformer Malaviya is a founder of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha (1906) and Banaras Hindu University and served as the university's vice-chancellor from 1919 till 1938. He was the President of Indian National Congress for four terms and was the Chairman of Hindustan Times from 1924 to 1946.[131]

Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee was elected nine times to the Lok Sabha, twice to the Rajya Sabha and served as the Prime Minister of India for three terms; 1996, 1998, 1999–2004.[49] He was Minister of External Affairs during 1977–79 and was awarded the "Best Parliamentarian" in 1994.[132]

text: Explanatory notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ The Bharat Ratna ceremony is usually held at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi but a special ceremony was held at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai to honour Karve on his 100th birthday, 18 April 1958.[9]
^ Jump up to: a b Per Article 18 (1) of the Constitution of India: Abolition of titles, "no title, not being a military or academic distinction, shall be conferred by the State".[18]
Jump up ^ The PIL accused the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Sports Minister Bhanwar Jitendra Singh and the secretary to the union home department.
Jump up ^ In 1960, Ramachandran was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, but declined as the invitation was written in the Devanagari script and not Tamil.[91]
Jump up ^ Desai had earlier abolished the awards while he was in the office of Prime Minister for it being "worthless and politicized".[103]
Jump up ^ Earlier, Abul Kalam Azad had refused the Bharat Ratna while he was the Education Minister of India (1947–58) citing that the selection committee members should not themselves be the recipients.[35][105][106]

text:
Jump up ^ Lal Bahadur Shastri died on 11 January 1966, at the age of 61.
Jump up ^ K. Kamaraj died on 2 October 1975, at the age of 72.
Jump up ^ Vinoba Bhave died on 15 November 1982, at the age of 87.
Jump up ^ M. G. Ramachandran died on 24 December 1987, at the age of 70.
Jump up ^ B. R. Ambedkar died on 6 December 1956, at the age of 65.
Jump up ^ Rajiv Gandhi died on 21 May 1991, at the age of 46.
Jump up ^ Vallabhbhai Patel died on 15 December 1950, at the age of 75.
Jump up ^ Abul Kalam Azad died on 22 February 1958, at the age of 69.
Jump up ^ Aruna Asaf Ali died on 29 July 1996, at the age of 87.
Jump up ^ Jayaprakash Narayan died on 8 October 1979, at the age of 76.
Jump up ^ Gopinath Bordoloi died on 5 August 1950, at the age of 60.
Jump up ^ Madan Mohan Malaviya died on 12 November 1946, at the age of 84.


question_text: first president live from new york its saturday night

text: Origin[edit]

text: During the show's first season, the show was known simply as NBC's Saturday Night, due to the existence of an ABC show titled Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. This is how the phrase received its wording. The phrase was kept intact even after ABC's SNL was canceled and NBC's Saturday Night adopted the SNL name for itself.

text: Instances used[edit]

text: The phrase is typically spoken by a host, cast member(s), and/or musical guest, and has been used in every season except one (the 1981-1982 season, the first full season with Dick Ebersol as producer). It was first said live on air by Chevy Chase, on SNL's first show on October 11, 1975. For all but two of the first season's 24 episodes, Chase delivered the phrase after a pratfall of some kind. Even when the show is not aired on a Saturday—such as the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday specials aired from 2008 to 2012, and again in 2017—the traditional line is used.

text: The person delivering the phrase usually breaks character and the fourth wall, in that the phrase is normally not spoken to other cast members as part of the regular dialogue in the opening sketch. Instead, the person suddenly turns (if not already facing downstage) and delivers the phrase directly to the audience and the camera with a full-throated shout. At the same time, the camera zooms in for a tight close-up shot of the person's face, followed by a dissolve to the show's opening montage and titles.

text: Readings by special guests[edit]

text: The line has occasionally been given to a non-host/non-cast member for cameo purposes. This could be for stars like Brad Pitt and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, or for more unusual celebrities like Monica Lewinsky, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winner John Carpenter, WWE chairman Vince McMahon (on March 18, 2000), Carolyn Kepcher (on April 3, 2004), and Al Sharpton (on November 2, 2013).

text: Presidents and Presidential hopefuls[edit]

text: Gerald Ford opened the show with the phrase on April 17, 1976, which came during his presidency. A series of Presidential and Vice Presidential hopefuls have also announced the phrase on their appearances on the program, beginning with Bob Dole on November 16, 1996 (coming after the 1996 election). It was announced by Barack Obama on November 3, 2007, by Hillary Clinton on March 1, 2008, by Sarah Palin on October 18, 2008, and by John McCain on November 1, 2008.

text: Variations[edit]

text: There have been multiple variations on the line.

text:
For Saturday Night Live's first season, all episodes except for two included original cast member Chevy Chase yelling "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" after he had performed a pratfall. For the first episode of the series, however, original cast members John Belushi and Michael O'Donoghue performed the pratfalls. After they had fallen, Chase came in, looking like a stage manager, and said "Live from the New York, it's Saturday Night!" when he noticed the camera.
The convention of opening the show with the line has itself been the subject of some of the cold openings. An early case of this was the March 26, 1977 episode, in which castmember John Belushi refused to say the line until a list of his demands were met. His plan was foiled when he was tricked into saying the line while reading a note that had been handed to him.
On the May 17, 1980 episode's cold opening, Don Novello's Father Guido Sarducci character went to London hoping to get an exclusive Weekend Update interview with Paul McCartney, who was the musical guest, but was unsuccessful due to the different time zones between New York and London. In order to start off the show, Father Guido had a random pedestrian say "Live from New York, and London, it's Saturday Night!", which led off to the opening credits.
In the last episode of the 1970s, hosted by Ted Knight on December 22, 1979, Bill Murray in character as the exiled Shah of Iran proclaimed "Live from New York, and Panama, it's Saturday Night!", in light of his stay in the country of Panama at the time.
For the 1981-1982 season, the opening line was moved from the end of the cold open to the opening montage, changed to "And now, from New York, the most dangerous city in America, it's Saturday Night Live", uttered by Mel Brandt, except for two episodes that aired in December 1981 when veteran NBC News announcer Bill Hanrahan handled such duties.
In 1982, while still a castmember, Eddie Murphy was asked to host the show in place of his 48 Hrs. co-star, Nick Nolte. Murphy altered the line to "Live from New York, it's the Eddie Murphy Show!". Two months later, host Lily Tomlin chided Murphy about this in the cold opening, then proclaimed, "Live from New York, it's the Lily Tomlin Show!".
In the 1983 episode jointly hosted by Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, the cold opening parodied Brooke Shields' Calvin Klein jeans commercials. In it. Andie McDowel (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) receives a pie in the face. After she is hit, Dreyfus begins to give the famous line. However, after getting as far as "Live from New York, it's...", she is then surprised with an unexpected second pie in her face and does not finish the line.[1]
The November 8, 1986 episode hosted by Rosanna Arquette remains the only episode of SNL to have been prerecorded in advance of its eventual airdate due to being originally slated for broadcast on October 25, 1986. The airing was postponed due to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series going into extra innings. When the episode aired two weeks later than recorded, New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling appeared in the cold opening which explained, to the Mets' horror, that Game 6 caused the first preemption in SNL's history. After apologizing for the preemption, Darling delivered the phrase even though the rest of the episode, except for Dennis Miller's Weekend Update for that week, had been prerecorded.[2]
On the May 10th, 1986 episode hosted by Paul Simon and Catherine Oxenburg and featuring the Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Paul Simon opened the show by singing "You Can Call Me Al" in a rare occasion where the show began with a performance by the host/musical guest. Paul Simon concluded his performance by saying "I'm Paul Simon, and we're live from New York on a Saturday Night".
On the February 23, 1991 episode, The McLaughlin Group parody had Dana Carvey (as John McLaughlin) asked his panelists how the show starts, and after shouting down their recitation of the opening line with a loud "WRONG!!", he opened the show with, "Show, show, show. Here we go!". A subsequent installment had Carvey telling everybody they were wrong, only to then say, "I'm only kidding. Start the show!"
On the February 28, 1998, episode, Will Ferrell, playing Saddam Hussein, opens the show with "Live-time from the New York, it's the Saturday fun hour!".
On February 6, 1999, while Bill Clinton's Senate trial was winding down at the time, Darrell Hammond (playing Clinton) gives an Oval Office address assuring the American public that he will not gloat over his certain victory. However, the events occurring behind and around him suggest otherwise. Streamers are put up on the windows; Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Vernon Jordan and Monica Lewinsky drink beer; Clinton holds up a picture of a horse's posterior instead of a picture of House impeachment manager Henry Hyde (thanks to an "honest mistake" during a tribute); and Betty Currie dances to "Chain of Fools". At the end, Clinton drops the facade and opens the show with "Live, from New York, it's Gloatin' Time!"[3]
In February, 2001, Jennifer Lopez hosted for the first time. After a cold opening sketch in which producer Lorne Michaels and various male castmembers obsess over Lopez's posterior, Tracy Morgan shouted, "Live from New York, it's Jennifer Lopez's booty!". Incidentally, this episode was not live; it was tape-delayed 45 minutes because of an XFL game going into double-overtime.
In the first show aired after the September 11 attacks, the show opened with Paul Simon leading a performance of a sentimental musical number —the Simon & Garfunkel song "The Boxer". Simon was standing with cast members and with New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani. After the song was over, Lorne Michaels asked Giuliani, "Can we be funny?". The remark was met by nervous laughter, which gave way to great applause when Giuliani responded, "Why start now?" After this, Giuliani delivered the phrase, which was met with more applause.
On October 28, 2006, Sacha Baron Cohen —in character as Borat Sagdiyev— was featured on the show, promoting his film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan and delivered the line as "Alive from New York—home of the Jew— it's Saturday night!".
On April 7, 2012, Jason Sudeikis as Mitt Romney remarked, "There's that unforgettable opening that we know so well: 'Hey, New York, let's start the show!'"; Bill Hader then yelled the normal version of the line from off-screen, to which "Romney" replied, "Yeah, exactly, what he said. That's right".
One variation was Jason Sudeikis, portraying Wolf Blitzer, yelling "Live from New York!" and then mumbling the rest of the line.
The puppet Toonces the Driving Cat meowed the line, with English subtitles.
The line has been said in Spanish ("En vivo desde Nueva York, ¡es Sábado por la Noche!") three times (by Gilda Radner, Chris Farley, and the tandem of Will Ferrell and Julia Stiles).
On the November 7, 2015 episode, hosted by Donald Trump, Larry David (playing presidential candidate Bernie Sanders) opened the show with "Live from New York... ah, you get it!".
On August 24, 2017, during the third episode of Weekend Update Summer Edition, Alec Baldwin, impersonating President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona, closed the cold opening with: "Live from New York, it's Weekend Update!".

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: This section appears to contain trivial, minor, or unrelated references to popular culture. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture rather than simply listing appearances; add references to reliable sources if possible, otherwise delete it. (October 2017)

text: In the second part of The Golden Girls episode "Home Again, Rose", when Rose asks to whisper something important in her daughter Kirsten's ear, she instead yells the famous SNL opening line.

text: In The Simpsons episode "'Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky", Marge Simpson yells the phrase while sleep-deprived.

text: In the Friends episode entitled, "The One with Joey's Award", Phoebe Buffay is giving a mock acceptance speech (receiving a Nobel Prize for a massage) when she suddenly stops and shouts, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!". Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe, actually auditioned for a spot on SNL, and did host the show.

text: In the 2015 film Goosebumps, based on the children's book series of the same name, Jillian Bell's character walks into the kitchen of her sister and nephew's new house, who have just moved to Delaware from New York, and greets them "Live from New York, it's my sister Gale with special guest my nephew Zach!". Bell had previously auditioned for SNL and though she did not join the cast, she became a writer for the show for the thirty-fifth season.

text: In the 2015 film Ted 2, when news of Ted's (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) court loss about him not being a "real person" appears on multiple news programs, one of the shows he was searching through was SNL where a cold open was parodying his court case, after which the three main cast members shouted the phrase. Cast members Taran Killam, Kate McKinnon, and Bobby Moynihan made cameo appearances.

text: On the July 19, 2016 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Laura Benanti (the impersonator of Melania Trump) finished her "un-plagiarized" "defense" speech, starting to say "Live from New York, it's Saturday..." before Colbert interrupted, shouting "no!" and the title card of the show appearing on the screen.