title: Nicolas Cage filmography

text: In 1992, Cage earned his second Golden Globe nomination for "Honeymoon in Vegas". Three years later, he starred as a suicidal alcoholic in the critically acclaimed "Leaving Las Vegas". For his performance, he received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He also earned the Golden Globe for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 2002, he made his directorial debut with "Sonny" and portrayed filmmaker Charlie Kaufman in "Adaptation", another critically acclaimed film that earned him his most recent Best Actor nominations from the Academy Awards, BAFTA, and Golden Globes.


title: Nicolas Cage filmography

text: Since then, Cage has had roles in a number of action and drama films, some of which were straight-to-video. His participation in various film genres during this time increased his popularity and gained him a cult following. "The Guardian" writes, "In Cage's hands, cartoonish moments are imbued with real emotion and real emotions become cartoons. He is erratic and unpredictable; he is captivating and he is capricious. He is a performer. He is a troubadour. He is a jazz musician." In 2013, he voiced Grug in the animated film "The Croods", his highest-grossing film. His additional voice roles include Superman in "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies" and Spider-Man Noir in "" (both 2018). Cage has also starred in several critically acclaimed films, including "Mandy" (2018), "Color Out of Space" (2019), and "Pig" (2021).


title: Salem witch trials

text: The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom were executed by hanging (14 women and five men). One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people died in jail.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Arrests were made in numerous towns beyond Salem and Salem Village (known today as Danvers), notably Andover and Topsfield. The grand juries and trials for this capital crime were conducted by a Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 and by a Superior Court of Judicature in 1693, both held in Salem Town, where the hangings also took place. It was the deadliest witch hunt in the history of colonial North America. Only fourteen other women and two men had been executed in Massachusetts and Connecticut during the 17th century.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The episode is one of Colonial America's most notorious cases of mass hysteria. It has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a vivid cautionary tale about the dangers of isolation, religious extremism, false accusations, and lapses in due process. It was not unique, but a Colonial American example of the much broader phenomenon of witch trials in the early modern period, which took place also in Europe. Many historians consider the lasting effects of the trials to have been highly influential in the history of the United States. According to historian George Lincoln Burr, "the Salem witchcraft was the rock on which the theocracy shattered."


title: Salem witch trials

text: At the 300th anniversary events in 1992 to commemorate the victims of the trials, a park was dedicated in Salem and a memorial in Danvers. In 1957, an act passed by the Massachusetts legislature absolved six people, while another one, passed in 2001, absolved five other victims. As of 2004, there was still talk about exonerating all of the victims, though some think that happened in the 18th century as the Massachusetts colonial legislature was asked to reverse the attainders of "George Burroughs and others". In January 2016, the University of Virginia announced its Gallows Hill Project team had determined the execution site in Salem, where the 19 "witches" had been hanged. The city dedicated the "Proctor's Ledge Memorial" to the victims there in 2017.


title: Salem witch trials

text: While witch trials had begun to fade out across much of Europe by the mid-17th century, they continued on the fringes of Europe and in the American Colonies. The events in 1692–1693 in Salem became a brief outburst of a sort of hysteria in the New World, while the practice was already waning in most of Europe.


title: Salem witch trials

text: In 1668, in "Against Modern Sadducism", Joseph Glanvill claimed that he could prove the existence of witches and ghosts of the supernatural realm. Glanvill wrote about the "denial of the bodily resurrection, and the [supernatural] spirits."


title: Salem witch trials

text: In his treatise, Glanvill claimed that ingenious men should believe in witches and apparitions; if they doubted the reality of spirits, they not only denied demons but also the almighty God. Glanvill wanted to prove that the supernatural could not be denied; those who did deny apparitions were considered heretics, for it also disproved their beliefs in angels. Works by men such as Glanvill and Cotton Mather tried to prove that "demons were alive."


title: Salem witch trials

text: The trials were started after people had been accused of witchcraft, primarily by teenage girls such as Elizabeth Hubbard, 17, as well as some who were younger. Dorothy Good was four or five years old when she was accused of witchcraft.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The earliest recorded witchcraft execution was that of Alse Young in 1647 in Hartford, Connecticut, the start of the Connecticut Witch Trials which lasted until 1663. Historian Clarence F. Jewett included a list of other people executed in New England in his 1881 book.


title: Salem witch trials

text: New England had been settled by religious dissenters seeking to build a Bible-based society according to their own chosen discipline. The original 1629 Royal Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was vacated in 1684, after which King James II installed Sir Edmund Andros as the governor of the Dominion of New England. Andros was ousted in 1689 after the "Glorious Revolution" in England replaced the Catholic James II with the Protestant co-rulers William and Mary.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Simon Bradstreet and Thomas Danforth, the colony's last leaders under the old charter, resumed their posts as governor and deputy governor, but lacked constitutional authority to rule because the old charter had been vacated. At the same time, tensions erupted between English colonists settling in "the Eastward" (the present-day coast of Maine) and French-supported Wabanaki Indians of that territory in what came to be known as King William's War. This was 13 years after the devastating King Philip's War with the Wampanoag and other indigenous tribes in southern and western New England. In October 1690, Sir William Phips led an unsuccessful attack on French-held Quebec. Between 1689 and 1692, Native Americans continued to attack many English settlements along the Maine coast, leading to the abandonment of some of the settlements and resulting in a flood of refugees into areas like Essex County.


title: Salem witch trials

text: A new charter for the enlarged Province of Massachusetts Bay was given final approval in England on October 16, 1691. Increase Mather had been working on obtaining the charter for four years, with William Phips often joining him in London and helping him gain entry to Whitehall. Increase Mather had published a book on witchcraft in 1684 and his son Cotton Mather published one in 1689. Increase Mather brought out a London edition of his son's book in 1690. Increase Mather claimed to have picked all the men to be included in the new government. News of Mather's charter and the appointment of Phips as the new governor had reached Boston by late January, and a copy of the new charter reached Boston on February 8, 1692. Phips arrived in Boston on May 14 and was sworn in as governor two days later, along with Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton. One of the first orders of business for the new governor and council on May 27, 1692, was the formal nomination of county justices of the peace, sheriffs, and the commission of a Special Court of Oyer and Terminer to handle the large numbers of people who were "thronging" the jails.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Salem Village (present-day Danvers, Massachusetts) was known for its fractious population, who had many many disputes internally and with Salem Town (present-day Salem). Arguments about property lines, grazing rights, and church privileges were rife, and neighbors considered the population as "quarrelsome." In 1672, the villagers had voted to hire a minister of their own, apart from Salem Town. The first two ministers, James Bayley (1673–1679) and George Burroughs (1680–1683), stayed only a few years each, departing after the congregation failed to pay their full rate. (Burroughs was subsequently arrested at the height of the witchcraft hysteria and was hanged as a witch in August 1692.)


title: Salem witch trials

text: Despite the ministers' rights being upheld by the General Court and the parish being admonished, each of the two ministers still chose to leave. The third minister, Deodat Lawson (1684–1688), stayed for a short time, leaving after the church in Salem refused to ordain him—and therefore not over issues with the congregation. The parish disagreed about Salem Village's choice of Samuel Parris as its first ordained minister. On June 18, 1689, the villagers agreed to hire Parris for £66 annually, "one third part in money and the other two third parts in provisions," and use of the parsonage.


title: Salem witch trials

text: On October 10, 1689, however, they raised his benefits, voting to grant him the deed to the parsonage and two acres (0.8 hectares) of land. This conflicted with a 1681 village resolution which stated that "it shall not be lawful for the inhabitants of this village to convey the houses or lands or any other concerns belonging to the Ministry to any particular persons or person: not for any cause by vote or other ways".


title: Salem witch trials

text: Though the prior ministers' fates and the level of contention in Salem Village were valid reasons for caution in accepting the position, Rev. Parris increased the village's divisions by delaying his acceptance. He did not seem able to settle his new parishioners' disputes: by deliberately seeking out "iniquitous behavior" in his congregation and making church members in good standing suffer public penance for small infractions, he contributed significantly to the tension within the village. Its bickering increased unabated. Historian Marion Starkey suggests that, in this atmosphere, serious conflict may have been inevitable.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Prior to the constitutional turmoil of the 1680s, the Massachusetts government had been dominated by conservative Puritan secular leaders. While Puritans and the Church of England both shared a common influence in Calvinism, Puritans had opposed many of the traditions of the Church of England, including use of the Book of Common Prayer, the use of clergy vestments during services, the use of the sign of the cross at baptism, and kneeling to receive communion, all of which they believed constituted popery. King Charles I was hostile to this viewpoint, and Anglican church officials tried to repress these dissenting views during the 1620s and 1630s. Some Puritans and other religious minorities had sought refuge in the Netherlands but ultimately many made a major migration to colonial North America to establish their own society.


title: Salem witch trials

text: These immigrants, who were mostly constituted of families, established several of the earliest colonies in New England, of which the Massachusetts Bay Colony was the largest and most economically important. They intended to build a society based on their religious beliefs. Colonial leaders were elected by the freemen of the colony, those individuals who had had their religious experiences formally examined and had been admitted to one of the colony's Puritan congregations. The colonial leadership were prominent members of their congregations and regularly consulted with the local ministers on issues facing the colony.


title: Salem witch trials

text: In the early 1640s, England erupted in civil war. The Puritan-dominated Parliamentarians emerged victorious, and the Crown was supplanted by the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell in 1653. Its failure led to restoration of the old order under Charles II. Emigration to New England slowed significantly in these years. In Massachusetts, a successful merchant class began to develop that was less religiously motivated than the colony's early settlers.


title: Salem witch trials

text: An overwhelming majority of people accused and convicted of witchcraft were women (about 78%). Overall, the Puritan belief and prevailing New England culture was that women were inherently sinful and more susceptible to damnation than men were. Throughout their daily lives, Puritans, especially Puritan women, actively attempted to thwart attempts by the Devil to overtake them and their souls. Indeed, Puritans held the belief that men and women were equal in the eyes of God, but not in the eyes of the Devil. Women's souls were seen as unprotected in their weak and vulnerable bodies. Several factors may explain why women were more likely to admit guilt of witchcraft than men. Historian Elizabeth Reis asserts that some likely believed they had truly given in to the Devil, and others might have believed they had done so temporarily. However, because those who confessed were reintegrated into society, some women might have confessed in order to spare their own lives.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Quarrels with neighbors often incited witchcraft allegations. One example of this is Abigail Faulkner, who was accused in 1692. Faulkner admitted she was "angry at what folk said," and the Devil may have temporarily overtaken her, causing harm to her neighbors. Women who did not conform to the norms of Puritan society were more likely to be the target of an accusation, especially those who were unmarried or did not have children.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Cotton Mather, a minister of Boston's North Church, was a prolific publisher of pamphlets, including some that expressed his belief in witchcraft. In his book "Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions" (1689), Mather describes his "oracular observations" and how "stupendous witchcraft" had affected the children of Boston mason John Goodwin.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Mather illustrates how the Goodwins' eldest child had been tempted by the devil and had stolen linen from the washerwoman Goody Glover. Glover, of Irish Catholic descent, was characterized as a disagreeable old woman and described by her husband as a witch; this may have been why she was accused of casting spells on the Goodwin children. After the event, four out of six Goodwin children began to have strange fits, or what some people referred to as "the disease of astonishment." The manifestations attributed to the disease quickly became associated with witchcraft. Symptoms included neck and back pains, tongues being drawn from their throats, and loud random outcries; other symptoms included having no control over their bodies such as becoming limber, flapping their arms like birds, or trying to harm others as well as themselves. These symptoms fuelled the craze of 1692.


title: Salem witch trials

text: In Salem Village in February 1692, Betty Parris (age 9) and her cousin Abigail Williams (age 11), the daughter and the niece, respectively, of Reverend Samuel Parris, began to have fits described as "beyond the power of epileptic fits or natural disease to effect" by John Hale, the minister of the nearby town of Beverly. The girls screamed, threw things about the room, uttered strange sounds, crawled under furniture, and contorted themselves into peculiar positions, according to the eyewitness account of Reverend Deodat Lawson, a former minister in Salem Village.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The girls complained of being pinched and pricked with pins. A doctor, historically assumed to be William Griggs, could find no physical evidence of any ailment. Other young women in the village began to exhibit similar behaviors. When Lawson preached as a guest in the Salem Village meetinghouse, he was interrupted several times by the outbursts of the afflicted.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The first three people accused and arrested for allegedly afflicting Betty Parris, Abigail Williams, 12-year-old Ann Putnam, Jr., and Elizabeth Hubbard, were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba—with Tituba being the first. Some historians believe that the accusation by Ann Putnam Jr. suggests that a family feud may have been a major cause of the witch trials. At the time, a vicious rivalry was underway between the Putnam and Porter families, one which deeply polarized the people of Salem. Citizens would often have heated debates, which escalated into full-fledged fighting, based solely on their opinion of the feud. Some of the physical symptoms resembled convulsive ergot poisoning, proposed 284 years later.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Good was a destitute woman accused of witchcraft because of her reputation. At her trial, she was accused of rejecting Puritan ideals of self-control and discipline when she chose to torment and "scorn [children] instead of leading them towards the path of salvation".


title: Salem witch trials

text: Sarah Osborne rarely attended church meetings. She was accused of witchcraft because the Puritans believed that Osborne had her own self-interests in mind following her remarriage to an indentured servant. The citizens of the town disapproved of her trying to control her son's inheritance from her previous marriage.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Tituba, an enslaved South American Indian woman from the West Indies, likely became a target because of her ethnic differences from most of the other villagers. She was accused of attracting girls like Abigail Williams and Betty Parris with stories of enchantment from "Malleus Maleficarum". These tales about sexual encounters with demons, swaying the minds of men, and fortune-telling were said to stimulate the imaginations of girls and made Tituba an obvious target of accusations.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Each of these women was a kind of outcast and exhibited many of the character traits typical of the "usual suspects" for witchcraft accusations; they were left to defend themselves. Brought before the local magistrates on the complaint of witchcraft, they were interrogated for several days, starting on March 1, 1692, then sent to jail.


title: Salem witch trials

text: In March, others were accused of witchcraft: Martha Corey, child Dorothy Good, and Rebecca Nurse in Salem Village, and Rachel Clinton in nearby Ipswich. Martha Corey had expressed skepticism about the credibility of the girls' accusations and thus drawn attention. The charges against her and Rebecca Nurse deeply troubled the community because Martha Corey was a full covenanted member of the Church in Salem Village, as was Rebecca Nurse in the Church in Salem Town. If such upstanding people could be witches, the townspeople thought, then anybody could be a witch, and church membership was no protection from accusation. Dorothy Good, the daughter of Sarah Good, was only four years old but was not exempted from questioning by the magistrates; her answers were construed as a confession that implicated her mother. In Ipswich, Rachel Clinton was arrested for witchcraft at the end of March on independent charges unrelated to the afflictions of the girls in Salem Village.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The initial examinations included physical exams where the accused were examined for unique markings such as moles, birth marks that were commonly believed to be associated with the Devil's influence. It was thought that those markings represented the Devil drinking the accused women's blood.


title: Salem witch trials

text: When Sarah Cloyce (Nurse's sister) and Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor were arrested in April, they were brought before John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin at a meeting in Salem Town. The men were both local magistrates and also members of the Governor's Council. Present for the examination were Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth, and Assistants Samuel Sewall, Samuel Appleton, James Russell and Isaac Addington. During the proceedings, objections by Elizabeth's husband, John Proctor, resulted in his arrest that day.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Within a week, Giles Corey (Martha's husband and a covenanted church member in Salem Town), Abigail Hobbs, Bridget Bishop, Mary Warren (a servant in the Proctor household and sometime accuser), and Deliverance Hobbs (stepmother of Abigail Hobbs), were arrested and examined. Abigail Hobbs, Mary Warren, and Deliverance Hobbs all confessed and began naming additional people as accomplices. More arrests followed: Sarah Wildes, William Hobbs (husband of Deliverance and father of Abigail), Nehemiah Abbott Jr., Mary Eastey (sister of Cloyce and Nurse), Edward Bishop Jr. and his wife Sarah Bishop, and Mary English.


title: Salem witch trials

text: On April 30, Reverend George Burroughs, Lydia Dustin, Susannah Martin, Dorcas Hoar, Sarah Morey, and Philip English (Mary's husband) were arrested. Nehemiah Abbott Jr. was released because the accusers agreed he was not the person whose specter had afflicted them. Mary Eastey was released for a few days after her initial arrest because the accusers failed to confirm that it was she who had afflicted them; she was arrested again when the accusers reconsidered. In May, accusations continued to pour in, but some of the suspects began to evade apprehension. Multiple warrants were issued before John Willard and Elizabeth Colson were apprehended; George Jacobs Jr. and Daniel Andrews were not caught. Until this point, all the proceedings were investigative, but on May 27, 1692, William Phips ordered the establishment of a Special Court of Oyer and Terminer for Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex counties to prosecute the cases of those in jail. Warrants were issued for more people. Sarah Osborne, one of the first three persons accused, died in jail on May 10, 1692.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Warrants were issued for 36 more people, with examinations continuing to take place in Salem Village: Sarah Dustin (daughter of Lydia Dustin), Ann Sears, Bethiah Carter Sr. and her daughter Bethiah Carter Jr., George Jacobs Sr. and his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs, John Willard, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Abigail Soames, George Jacobs Jr. (son of George Jacobs Sr. and father of Margaret Jacobs), Daniel Andrew, Rebecca Jacobs (wife of George Jacobs Jr. and sister of Daniel Andrew), Sarah Buckley and her daughter Mary Witheridge.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Also included were Elizabeth Colson, Elizabeth Hart, Thomas Farrar Sr. Roger Toothaker, Sarah Proctor (daughter of John and Elizabeth Proctor), Sarah Bassett (sister-in-law of Elizabeth Proctor), Susannah Roots, Mary DeRich (another sister-in-law of Elizabeth Proctor), Sarah Pease, Elizabeth Cary, Martha Carrier, Elizabeth Fosdick, Wilmot Redd, Sarah Rice, Elizabeth Howe, Capt. John Alden (son of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins), William Proctor (son of John and Elizabeth Proctor), John Flood, Mary Toothaker (wife of Roger Toothaker and sister of Martha Carrier) and her daughter Margaret Toothaker, and Arthur Abbott. When the Court of Oyer and Terminer convened at the end of May, the total number of people in custody was 62.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Cotton Mather wrote to one of the judges, John Richards, a member of his congregation, on May 31, 1692, expressing his support of the prosecutions, but cautioning him,


title: Salem witch trials

text: The Court of Oyer and Terminer convened in Salem Town on June 2, 1692, with William Stoughton, the new Lieutenant Governor, as Chief Magistrate, Thomas Newton as the Crown's Attorney prosecuting the cases, and Stephen Sewall as clerk. Bridget Bishop's case was the first brought to the grand jury, who endorsed all the indictments against her. Bishop was described as not living a Puritan lifestyle, for she wore black clothing and odd costumes, which was against the Puritan code. When she was examined before her trial, Bishop was asked about her coat, which had been awkwardly "cut or torn in two ways".


title: Salem witch trials

text: This, along with her "immoral" lifestyle, affirmed to the jury that Bishop was a witch. She went to trial the same day and was convicted. On June 3, the grand jury endorsed indictments against Rebecca Nurse and John Willard, but they did not go to trial immediately, for reasons which are unclear. Bishop was executed by hanging on June 10, 1692.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Immediately following this execution, the court adjourned for 20 days (until June 30) while it sought advice from New England's most influential ministers "upon the state of things as they then stood." Their collective response came back dated June 15 and composed by Cotton Mather:


title: Salem witch trials

text: Hutchinson sums the letter, "The two first and the last sections of this advice took away the force of all the others, and the prosecutions went on with more vigor than before." (Reprinting the letter years later in "Magnalia", Cotton Mather left out these "two first and the last" sections.) Major Nathaniel Saltonstall, Esq., resigned from the court on or about June 16, presumably dissatisfied with the letter and that it had not outright barred the admission of spectral evidence. According to Upham, Saltonstall deserves the credit for "being the only public man of his day who had the sense or courage to condemn the proceedings, at the start." (chapt. VII) More people were accused, arrested and examined, but now in Salem Town, by former local magistrates John Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, and Bartholomew Gedney, who had become judges of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Suspect Roger Toothaker died in prison on June 16, 1692.


title: Salem witch trials

text: From June 30 through early July, grand juries endorsed indictments against Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor, Martha Carrier, Sarah Wildes and Dorcas Hoar. Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin and Sarah Wildes, along with Rebecca Nurse, went to trial at this time, where they were found guilty. All five women were executed by hanging on July 19, 1692. In mid-July, the constable in Andover invited the afflicted girls from Salem Village to visit with his wife to try to determine who was causing her afflictions. Ann Foster, her daughter Mary Lacey Sr., and granddaughter Mary Lacey Jr. all confessed to being witches. Anthony Checkley was appointed by Governor Phips to replace Thomas Newton as the Crown's Attorney when Newton took an appointment in New Hampshire.


title: Salem witch trials

text: In August, grand juries indicted George Burroughs, Mary Eastey, Martha Corey and George Jacobs Sr. Trial juries convicted Martha Carrier, George Jacobs Sr., George Burroughs, John Willard, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor was given a temporary stay of execution because she was pregnant. On August 19, 1692, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs Sr., George Burroughs, John Willard, and John Proctor were executed.


title: Salem witch trials

text: In September, grand juries indicted 18 more people. The grand jury failed to indict William Proctor, who was re-arrested on new charges. On September 19, 1692, Giles Corey refused to plead at trial, and was killed by "peine forte et dure", a form of torture in which the subject is pressed beneath an increasingly heavy load of stones, in an attempt to make him enter a plea. Four pleaded guilty and 11 others were tried and found guilty.


title: Salem witch trials

text: On September 20, Cotton Mather wrote to Stephen Sewall: "That I may be the more capable to assist in lifting up a standard against the infernal enemy", requesting "a narrative of the evidence given in at the trials of half a dozen, or if you please, a dozen, of the principal witches that have been condemned." On September 22, 1692, eight more persons were executed, "After Execution Mr. Noyes turning him to the Bodies, said, what a sad thing it is to see Eight Firebrands of Hell hanging there."


title: Salem witch trials

text: Dorcas Hoar was given a temporary reprieve, with the support of several ministers, to make a confession of being a witch. Mary Bradbury (aged 77) managed to escape with the help of family and friends. Abigail Faulkner Sr. was pregnant and given a temporary reprieve (some reports from that era say that Abigail's reprieve later became a stay of charges).


title: Salem witch trials

text: Mather quickly completed his account of the trials, "Wonders of the Invisible World" and it was given to Phips when he returned from the fighting in Maine in early October. Burr says both Phips' letter and Mather's manuscript "must have gone to London by the same ship" in mid-October.


title: Salem witch trials

text: On October 29, Judge Sewall wrote, "the Court of Oyer and Terminer count themselves thereby dismissed ... asked whether the Court of Oyer and Terminer should sit, expressing some fear of Inconvenience by its fall, [the] Governour said it must fall". Perhaps by coincidence, Governor Phips' own wife, Lady Mary Phips, was among those who had been "called out upon" around this time. After Phips' order, there were no more executions.


title: Salem witch trials

text: In January 1693, the new Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General Gaol [Jail] Delivery convened in Salem, Essex County, again headed by William Stoughton, as Chief Justice, with Anthony Checkley continuing as the Attorney General, and Jonathan Elatson as Clerk of the Court. The first five cases tried in January 1693 were of the five people who had been indicted but not tried in September: Sarah Buckley, Margaret Jacobs, Rebecca Jacobs, Mary Whittredge (or Witheridge) and Job Tookey. All were found not guilty. Grand juries were held for many of those remaining in jail. Charges were dismissed against many, but 16 more people were indicted and tried, three of whom were found guilty: Elizabeth Johnson Jr., Sarah Wardwell, and Mary Post.


title: Salem witch trials

text: When Stoughton wrote the warrants for the execution of these three and others remaining from the previous court, Governor Phips issued pardons, sparing their lives. In late January/early February, the Court sat again in Charlestown, Middlesex County, and held grand juries and tried five people: Sarah Cole (of Lynn), Lydia Dustin and Sarah Dustin, Mary Taylor and Mary Toothaker. All were found not guilty but were not released until they paid their jail fees. Lydia Dustin died in jail on March 10, 1693.


title: Salem witch trials

text: At the end of April, the Court convened in Boston, Suffolk County, and cleared Capt. John Alden by proclamation. It heard charges against a servant girl, Mary Watkins, for falsely accusing her mistress of witchcraft. In May, the Court convened in Ipswich, Essex County, and held a variety of grand juries. They dismissed charges against all but five people. Susannah Post, Eunice Frye, Mary Bridges Jr., Mary Barker and William Barker Jr. were all found not guilty at trial, finally putting an end to the series of trials and executions.


title: Salem witch trials

text: After someone concluded that a loss, illness, or death had been caused by witchcraft, the accuser entered a complaint against the alleged witch with the local magistrates. If the complaint was deemed credible, the magistrates had the person arrested and brought in for a public examination—essentially an interrogation where the magistrates pressed the accused to confess.


title: Salem witch trials

text: If the magistrates at this local level were satisfied that the complaint was well-founded, the prisoner was handed over to be dealt with by a superior court. In 1692, the magistrates opted to wait for the arrival of the new charter and governor, who would establish a Court of Oyer and Terminer to handle these cases. The next step, at the superior court level, was to summon witnesses before a grand jury.


title: Salem witch trials

text: A person could be indicted on charges of afflicting with witchcraft, or for making an unlawful covenant with the Devil. Once indicted, the defendant went to trial, sometimes on the same day, as in the case of the first person indicted and tried on June 2, Bridget Bishop, who was executed eight days later, on June 10, 1692.


title: Salem witch trials

text: There were four execution dates, with one person executed on June 10, 1692, five executed on July 19, 1692 (Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe and Sarah Wildes), another five executed on August 19, 1692 (Martha Carrier, John Willard, George Burroughs, George Jacobs Sr., and John Proctor), and eight on September 22, 1692 (Mary Eastey, Martha Corey, Ann Pudeator, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Alice Parker, Wilmot Redd and Margaret Scott).


title: Salem witch trials

text: Several others, including Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor and Abigail Faulkner, were convicted but given temporary reprieves because they were pregnant. Five other women were convicted in 1692, but the death sentence was never carried out: Mary Bradbury (in absentia), Ann Foster (who later died in prison), Mary Lacey Sr. (Foster's daughter), Dorcas Hoar and Abigail Hobbs.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Giles Corey, an 81-year-old farmer from the southeast end of Salem (called Salem Farms), refused to enter a plea when he came to trial in September. The judges applied an archaic form of punishment called "peine forte et dure," in which stones were piled on his chest until he could no longer breathe. After two days of "peine fort et dure," Corey died without entering a plea. His refusal to plead is usually explained as a way of preventing his estate from being confiscated by the Crown, but, according to historian Chadwick Hansen, much of Corey's property had already been seized, and he had made a will in prison: "His death was a protest ... against the methods of the court". A contemporary critic of the trials, Robert Calef, wrote, "Giles Corey pleaded not Guilty to his Indictment, but would not put himself upon Tryal by the Jury (they having cleared none upon Tryal) and knowing there would be the same Witnesses against him, rather chose to undergo what Death they would put him to."


title: Salem witch trials

text: As convicted witches, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey had been excommunicated from their churches and denied proper burials. As soon as the bodies of the accused were cut down from the trees, they were thrown into a shallow grave, and the crowd dispersed. Oral history claims that the families of the dead reclaimed their bodies after dark and buried them in unmarked graves on family property. The record books of the time do not note the deaths of any of those executed.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Much, but not all, of the evidence used against the accused was "spectral evidence," or the testimony of the afflicted who claimed to see the apparition or the shape of the person who was allegedly afflicting them. The theological dispute that ensued about the use of this evidence was based on whether a person had to give permission to the Devil for his/her shape to be used to afflict. Opponents claimed that the Devil was able to use anyone's shape to afflict people, but the Court contended that the Devil could not use a person's shape without that person's permission; therefore, when the afflicted claimed to see the apparition of a specific person, that was accepted as evidence that the accused had been complicit with the Devil.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Cotton Mather's "The Wonders of the Invisible World" was written with the purpose to show how careful the court was in managing the trials. Unfortunately the work did not get released until after the trials had already ended. In his book, Mather explained how he felt spectral evidence was presumptive and that it alone was not enough to warrant a conviction. Robert Calef, a strong critic of Cotton Mather, stated in his own book titled "More Wonders of the Invisible World" that by confessing, an accused would not be brought to trial, such as in the cases of Tituba and Dorcas Good.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Increase Mather and other ministers sent a letter to the Court, "The Return of Several Ministers Consulted", urging the magistrates not to convict on spectral evidence alone. (The court later ruled that spectral evidence was inadmissible, which caused a dramatic reduction in the rate of convictions and may have hastened the end of the trials.) A copy of this letter was printed in Increase Mather's "Cases of Conscience", published in 1693. The publication "A Tryal of Witches", related to the 1662 Bury St Edmunds witch trial, was used by the magistrates at Salem when looking for a precedent in allowing spectral evidence. Since the jurist Sir Matthew Hale had permitted this evidence, supported by the eminent philosopher, physician and author Thomas Browne, to be used in the Bury St Edmunds witch trial and the accusations against two Lowestoft women, the colonial magistrates also accepted its validity and their trials proceeded.


title: Salem witch trials

text: According to a March 27, 1692 entry by Parris in the "Records of the Salem-Village Church", a church member and close neighbor of Rev. Parris, Mary Sibley (aunt of Mary Walcott), directed John Indian, a man enslaved by Parris, to make a "witch cake." This may have been a superstitious attempt to ward off evil spirits. According to an account attributed to Deodat Lawson ("collected by Deodat Lawson") this happened around March 8, over a week after the first complaints had gone out and three women were arrested. Lawson's account describes this cake "a means to discover witchcraft" and provides other details such as that it was made from rye meal and urine from the afflicted girls and was fed to a dog.


title: Salem witch trials

text: In the Church Records, Parris describes speaking with Sibley privately on March 25, 1692, about her "grand error" and accepted her "sorrowful confession." After the main sermon on March 27, and the wider congregation was dismissed, Parris addressed covenanted church-members about it and admonished all the congregation against "going to the Devil for help against the Devil." He stated that while "calamities" that had begun in his own household "it never brake forth to any considerable light, until diabolical means were used, by the making of a cake by my Indian man, who had his direction from this our sister, Mary Sibley." This doesn't seem to square with Lawson's account dating it around March 8. The first complaints were February 29 and the first arrests were March 1.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Traditionally, the allegedly afflicted girls are said to have been entertained by Parris' slave, Tituba. A variety of secondary sources, starting with Charles W. Upham in the 19th century, typically relate that a circle of the girls, with Tituba's help, tried their hands at fortune telling. They used the white of an egg and a mirror to create a primitive crystal ball to divine the professions of their future spouses and scared one another when one supposedly saw the shape of a coffin instead. The story is drawn from John Hale's book about the trials, but in his account, only one of the girls, not a group of them, had confessed to him afterward that she had once tried this. Hale did not mention Tituba as having any part of it, nor did he identify when the incident took place. But the record of Tituba's pre-trial examination holds her giving an energetic confession, speaking before the court of "creatures who inhabit the invisible world," and "the dark rituals which bind them together in service of Satan", implicating both Good and Osborne while asserting that "many other people in the colony were engaged in the devil's conspiracy against the Bay."


title: Salem witch trials

text: Tituba's race has often been described in later accounts as of Carib-Indian or African descent, but contemporary sources describe her only as an "Indian". Research by Elaine Breslaw has suggested that Tituba may have been captured in what is now Venezuela and brought to Barbados, and so may have been an Arawak Indian. Other slightly later descriptions of her, by Gov. Thomas Hutchinson writing his history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 18th century, describe her as a "Spanish Indian." In that day, that typically meant a Native American from the Carolinas/Georgia/Florida.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The most infamous application of the belief in effluvia was the "touch test" used in Andover during preliminary examinations in September 1692. Parris had explicitly warned his congregation against such examinations. If the accused witch touched the victim while the victim was having a fit, and the fit stopped, observers believed that meant the accused was the person who had afflicted the victim. As several of those accused later recounted,


title: Salem witch trials

text: we were blindfolded, and our hands were laid upon the afflicted persons, they being in their fits and falling into their fits at our coming into their presence, as they said. Some led us and laid our hands upon them, and then they said they were well and that we were guilty of afflicting them; whereupon we were all seized, as prisoners, by a warrant from the justice of the peace and forthwith carried to Salem.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The Rev. John Hale explained how this supposedly worked: "the Witch by the cast of her eye sends forth a Malefick Venome into the Bewitched to cast him into a fit, and therefore the touch of the hand doth by sympathy cause that venome to return into the Body of the Witch again".


title: Salem witch trials

text: Other evidence included the confessions of the accused; testimony by a confessed witch who identified others as witches; the discovery of "poppits" ("poppets"), books of palmistry and horoscopes, or pots of ointments in the possession or home of the accused; and observation of what were called "witch's teats" on the body of the accused. A witch's teat was said to be a mole or blemish somewhere on the body that was insensitive to touch; discovery of such insensitive areas was considered "de facto" evidence of witchcraft.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Puritan ministers throughout the Massachusetts Bay Colony were exceedingly interested in the trial. Several traveled to Salem in order to gather information about the trial. After witnessing the trials first-hand and gathering accounts, these ministers presented various opinions about the trial starting in 1692.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Deodat Lawson, a former minister in Salem Village, visited Salem Village in March and April 1692. The resulting publication, entitled "A Brief and True Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages Relating to Sundry Persons Afflicted by Witchcraft, at Salem Village: Which happened from the Nineteenth of March, to the Fifth of April 1692", was published while the trials were ongoing and relates evidence meant to convict the accused. Simultaneous with Lawson, William Milbourne, a Baptist minister in Boston, publicly petitioned the General Assembly in early June 1692, challenging the use of spectral evidence by the Court. Milbourne had to post £200 bond (equal to £, or about US$42,000 today) or be arrested for "contriving, writing and publishing the said scandalous Papers".


title: Salem witch trials

text: The most famous primary source about the trials is Cotton Mather's "Wonders of the Invisible World: Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches, Lately Executed in New-England", printed in October 1692. This text had a tortured path to publication. Initially conceived as a promotion of the trials and a triumphant celebration of Mather's leadership, Mather had to rewrite the text and disclaim personal involvement as suspicion about spectral evidence started to build. Regardless, it was published in both Boston and London, with an introductory letter of endorsement by William Stoughton, the Chief Magistrate. The book included accounts of five trials, with much of the material copied directly from the court records, which were supplied to Mather by Stephen Sewall, a clerk in the court.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Cotton Mather's father, Increase Mather, completed "Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits" at the same time as "Wonders" and published it in November 1692. This book was intended to judiciously acknowledge the growing doubts about spectral evidence, while still maintaining the accuracy of Cotton's rewritten, whitewashed text. Like his son, Increase minimized his personal involvement, although he included the full text of his August petition to the Salem court in support of spectral evidence. Judging from the apologetic tone of "Cases of Conscience" that the moral panic had subsided, Thomas Brattle directly ridiculed the "superstitions" of Salem and Increase's defense of his son in an open letter notable for its openly sarcastic tone.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Samuel Willard, minister of the Third Church in Boston was a onetime strong supporter of the trials and of spectral evidence but became increasingly concerned as the Mathers crushed dissent. Writing anonymously to conceal his dissent, he published a short tract entitled "Some Miscellany Observations On our present Debates respecting Witchcrafts, in a Dialogue Between S. & B." The authors were listed as "P. E. and J. A." (Philip English and John Alden), but the work is generally attributed to Willard. In it, two characters, S (Salem) and B (Boston), discuss the way the proceedings were being conducted, with "B" urging caution about the use of testimony from the afflicted and the confessors, stating, "whatever comes from them is to be suspected; and it is dangerous using or crediting them too far". This book lists its place of publication as Philadelphia, but it is believed to have been secretly printed in Boston.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Although the last trial was held in May 1693, public response to the events continued. In the decades following the trials, survivors and family members (and their supporters) sought to establish the innocence of the individuals who were convicted and to gain compensation. In the following centuries, the descendants of those unjustly accused and condemned have sought to honor their memories. Events in Salem and Danvers in 1992 were used to commemorate the trials. In November 2001, years after the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the trials, the Massachusetts legislature passed an act exonerating all who had been convicted and naming each of the innocent, with the exception of Elizabeth Johnson, who was cleared by the Massachusetts Senate on 26 May 2022, the last conviction to be reversed, after pressure from schoolchildren who discovered the anomaly. The trials have figured in American culture and been explored in numerous works of art, literature and film.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The first indication that public calls for justice were not over occurred in 1695 when Thomas Maule, a noted Quaker, publicly criticized the handling of the trials by the Puritan leaders in Chapter 29 of his book "Truth Held Forth and Maintained", expanding on Increase Mather by stating, "it were better that one hundred Witches should live, than that one person be put to death for a witch, which is not a Witch". For publishing this book, Maule was imprisoned twelve months before he was tried and found not guilty.


title: Salem witch trials

text: On December 17, 1696, the General Court ruled that there would be a fast day on January 14, 1697, "referring to the late Tragedy, raised among us by Satan and his Instruments." On that day, Samuel Sewall asked Rev. Samuel Willard to read aloud his apology to the congregation of Boston's South Church, "to take the Blame & Shame" of the "late Commission of Oyer & Terminer at Salem". Thomas Fiske and eleven other trial jurors also asked forgiveness.


title: Salem witch trials

text: From 1693 to 1697, Robert Calef, a "weaver" and a cloth merchant in Boston, collected correspondence, court records and petitions, and other accounts of the trials, and placed them, for contrast, alongside portions of Cotton Mather's "Wonders of the Invisible World", under the title "More Wonders of the Invisible World",


title: Salem witch trials

text: Calef could not get it published in Boston and he had to take it to London, where it was published in 1700. Scholars of the trials—Hutchinson, Upham, Burr, and even Poole—have relied on Calef's compilation of documents. John Hale, a minister in Beverly who was present at many of the proceedings, had completed his book, "A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft" in 1697, which was not published until 1702, after his death, and perhaps in response to Calef's book. Expressing regret over the actions taken, Hale admitted, "Such was the darkness of that day, the tortures and lamentations of the afflicted, and the power of former presidents, that we walked in the clouds, and could not see our way."


title: Salem witch trials

text: Various petitions were filed between 1700 and 1703 with the Massachusetts government, demanding that the convictions be formally reversed. Those tried and found guilty were considered dead in the eyes of the law, and with convictions still on the books, those not executed were vulnerable to further accusations. The General Court initially reversed the attainder only for those who had filed petitions, only three people who had been convicted but not executed: Abigail Faulkner Sr., Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Wardwell. In 1703, another petition was filed, requesting a more equitable settlement for those wrongly accused, but it was not until 1709, when the General Court received a further request, that it took action on this proposal. In May 1709, 22 people who had been convicted of witchcraft, or whose relatives had been convicted of witchcraft, presented the government with a petition in which they demanded both a reversal of attainder and compensation for financial losses.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Repentance was evident within the Salem Village church. Rev. Joseph Green and the members of the church voted on February 14, 1703, after nearly two months of consideration, to reverse the excommunication of Martha Corey. On August 25, 1706, when Ann Putnam Jr., one of the most active accusers, joined the Salem Village church, she publicly asked forgiveness. She claimed that she had not acted out of malice, but had been deluded by Satan into denouncing innocent people, mentioning Rebecca Nurse, in particular, and was accepted for full membership.


title: Salem witch trials

text: On October 17, 1711, the General Court passed a bill reversing the judgment against the twenty-two people listed in the 1709 petition (there were seven additional people who had been convicted but had not signed the petition, but there was no reversal of attainder for them). Two months later, on December 17, 1711, Governor Joseph Dudley authorized monetary compensation to the 22 people in the 1709 petition. The amount of £578 12s was authorized to be divided among the survivors and relatives of those accused, and most of the accounts were settled within a year, but Phillip English's extensive claims were not settled until 1718. Finally, on March 6, 1712, Rev. Nicholas Noyes and members of the Salem church reversed Noyes' earlier excommunications of Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Rebecca Nurse's descendants erected an obelisk-shaped granite memorial in her memory in 1885 on the grounds of the Nurse Homestead in Danvers, with an inscription from John Greenleaf Whittier. In 1892, an additional monument was erected in honor of forty neighbors who signed a petition in support of Nurse.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Not all the condemned had been exonerated in the early 18th century. In 1957, descendants of the six people who had been wrongly convicted and executed but who had not been included in the bill for a reversal of attainder in 1711, or added to it in 1712, demanded that the General Court formally clear the names of their ancestral family members. An act was passed pronouncing the innocence of those accused, although it listed only Ann Pudeator by name. The others were listed only as "certain other persons", phrasing which failed specifically to name Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Wilmot Redd and Margaret Scott.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The 300th anniversary of the trials was marked in 1992 in Salem and Danvers by a variety of events. A memorial park was dedicated in Salem which included stone slab benches inserted in the stone wall of the park for each of those executed in 1692. Speakers at the ceremony in August included playwright Arthur Miller and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. Danvers erected its own new memorial, and reinterred bones unearthed in the 1950s, assumed to be those of George Jacobs Sr., in a new resting place at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead.


title: Salem witch trials

text: In 1992, The Danvers Tercentennial Committee also persuaded the Massachusetts House of Representatives to issue a resolution honoring those who had died. After extensive efforts by Paula Keene, a Salem schoolteacher, state representatives J. Michael Ruane and Paul Tirone, along with others, issued a bill whereby the names of all those not previously listed were to be added to this resolution. When it was finally signed on October 31, 2001, by Governor Jane Swift, more than 300 years later, all were finally proclaimed innocent.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Land in the area was purchased by the city of Salem in 1936 and renamed "Witch Memorial Land" but no memorial was constructed on the site, and popular misconception persisted that the executions had occurred at the top of Gallows Hill. Rebecca Eames of Boxford, who was brought to Salem for questioning, stated that she was held at "the house below the hill" where she could see people attending executions. This helped researchers rule out the summit as the execution site. In January 2016, the University of Virginia announced its project team had determined the execution site on Gallows Hill in Salem, where nineteen "witches" had been hanged in public. Members of the Gallows Hill Project had worked with the city of Salem using old maps and documentation, as well as sophisticated GIS and ground-penetrating radar technology, to survey the area of what became known as Proctor's Ledge, located at the base of the hill, which they say was easier for spectators to reach than the top of Gallows Hill. The city owns the property and dedicated the "Proctor's Ledge Memorial" to the victims there in 2017. A documentary, "Gallows Hill – Nineteen," is in production about these events.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The story of the witchcraft accusations, trials and executions has captured the imagination of writers and artists in the centuries since the event took place. Their earliest impactful use as the basis for an item of popular fiction is the 1828 novel "Rachel Dyer" by John Neal.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Many interpretations have taken liberties with the facts of the historical episode in the name of literary and/or artistic license. As the trials took place at the intersection between a gradually disappearing medieval past and an emerging enlightenment, and dealt with torture and confession, some interpretations draw attention to the boundaries between the medieval and the post-medieval as cultural constructions.


title: Salem witch trials

text: Most recently, the events of the Salem witch trials were interpreted in the 2018 exploitation-teen comedy film "Assassination Nation", which changed the setting to the present United States and added thick social commentary in order to underline the absurdity of the actual events.


title: Salem witch trials

text: The cause of the symptoms of those who claimed affliction continues to be a subject of interest. Various medical and psychological explanations for the observed symptoms have been explored by researchers, including psychological hysteria in response to Indian attacks, convulsive ergotism caused by eating rye bread made from grain infected by the fungus "Claviceps purpurea" (a natural substance from which LSD is derived), an epidemic of bird-borne encephalitis lethargica, and sleep paralysis to explain the nocturnal attacks alleged by some of the accusers. Some modern historians are less inclined to focus on biological explanations, preferring instead to explore motivations such as jealousy, spite, and a need for attention to explain the behavior.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion is a 2017 Indian epic action film directed by S. S. Rajamouli, who co-wrote the film with V. Vijayendra Prasad. It was produced by Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni under the banner Arka Media Works. It was shot in Telugu and Tamil simultaneously. The film features an ensemble cast including Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, Tamannaah, Ramya Krishna, Sathyaraj, Nassar, and Subbaraju. The second cinematic part in the "Baahubali" franchise, it is the follow-up to "", serving as both a sequel and a prequel. The film is set in medieval India and follows the sibling rivalry between Amarendra Baahubali and Bhallaladeva; the latter conspires against the former and has him killed by Kattappa. Years later, Amarendra's son returns to avenge his death.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: The film was made on an estimated budget of ($37 million) and was the most expensive Indian film ever made at the time. The production was launched on 17 December 2015 at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad. The cinematography was done by K. K. Senthil Kumar, and was edited by Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao. The production design was done by Sabu Cyril, while the action sequences were choreographed by Peter Hein. The visual effects were designed by R. C. Kamalakannan, with assistance from Adel Adili and Pete Draper. The soundtrack and the background music were composed by M. M. Keeravani. "Baahubali 2" was released on 28 April 2017 in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam version and later dubbed in Japanese, Russian and Chinese. Released in conventional 2D and IMAX formats, "Baahubali 2" was the first Telugu film to also release in 4K High Definition format.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Grossing worldwide ($267 million), the film surpassed "PK" (2014) to briefly become the highest grossing Indian film of all time, collecting approximately worldwide within just six days of its release. It became the first-ever Indian film to gross over , doing so in just ten days. Within India, it set many film records, becoming the highest-grossing film in Hindi, as well as in its original Telugu and Tamil languages. It stands as the highest grossing film in India, the second highest-grossing Indian film worldwide and the 39th highest-grossing film of 2017. The film sold over 10 crore (100million) tickets during its box office run, the highest estimated admissions for any film in India since "Sholay" (1975).


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: "Baahubali 2" received universal acclaim for Rajamouli's direction, the story, cinematography, visual effects, music, action sequences, acting, and emotional weight. It was also praised by the actors of the film industry alike. It won the Saturn Award for Best International Film and three National Film Awards: Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, Best Special Effects and Best Stunt Choreographer.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Kattappa continues to narrate how he was under compulsion to assassinate Amarendra Bahubali. After vanquishing the Kalakeyas, Amarendra is declared as the heir apparent to the throne while Bhallaladeva is announced as the kingdom's future commander-in-chief. Rajmata Sivagami Devi sends Amarendra on a tour under disguise with Kattappa for attaining knowledge in political affairs. During the tour, Amarendra witnesses the valour of Kuntala's Princess Devasena / Thevasenai when she resists a group of attackers. Falling in love with her, he approaches her after the fight, posing as a simpleton and Kattappa plays along with him as his uncle. Amarendra is accepted as guard at the royal palace of Kuntala while Bhallaladeva perceives about Amarendra's acts and upon viewing Devasena's portrait, lusts for her and acquires a promise from Shivagami, who assures Bhallaladeva's marriage with Devasena oblivious to the fact that Amarendra has already fallen in love with her. Shivagami sends an emissary to Kuntala proposing marriage but the emissary portrays it in a patronizing way leaving Devasena enraged. She gives a scathing reply rejecting the proposal and upon receiving her response, Shivagami sends an order to Amarendra that Devasena be brought to Mahishmati as a captive.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: In Kuntala, an attack by Pindari dacoits on the royal palace exposes Amarendra and Kattappa's bravery and they nullify the attack with assistance from Devasena's maternal cousin Kumara Varma who overcomes his cowardice. Upon being confronted when Amarendra receives a message to capture Devasena, Kattappa reveals that Amarendra is the future king of Mahishmati. Amarendra, promising Devasena that he would protect her honour at any cost takes her to Mahishmati. In the court, the misunderstanding is brought to light and Shivagami asks Amarendra to choose between the throne and Devasena. Unwilling to break his promise to the princess, he chooses to marry her and serve the kingdom as its commander-in-chief. Bhallaladeva's coronation takes place at a grand note but he seethes with jealousy over his popularity among citizens. Devasena expects a child and during her baby shower, Bhallaladeva deprives Amarendra of his commander post under pretext of making sure that Amarendra spends most of his time with his pregnant wife and the post is offered to Sethupathi. Devasena questions the decision, declaring it unfair and confronts Shivagami for her inactions. She asks Amarendra to ascend the throne as a gift to her that leaves everyone stunned.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Devasena, during her visit to a temple cuts Sethupathi's fingers off with a dagger when he dares to misbehave with visiting women and her. She is shackled and produced in the court where Amarendra beheads Sethupathi for his misdeeds and as a result, both Devasena and Amarendra are banished from royal palace and are supposed to live as commoners. As Amarendra's fame does not decrease, Bijjaladeva and Bhallaladeva stage a conspiracy to further turn Shivagami against Amarendra. Bijjaladeva convinces Kumara Varma that Amarendra, Devasena and their unborn baby's lives shall be threatened by Bhallaladeva's machinations and manipulates him into entering the palace at stealth of night for assassinating Bhallaladeva to do good. However, Kumara Varma and his companions are defeated and killed before which Kumara Varma learns that it is a conspiracy to have Shivagami pass an order to assassinate Amarendra. Shivagami, who believes that Kumara Varma is sent by Amarendra for murdering Bhallaladeva secretly passes an order to Kattappa for assassinating Amarendra as declaring it publicly would lead to an internal war.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Destined to be bound to the kingdom, Kattappa helplessly lures Amarendra into a secluded place feigning that he is in trouble where Amarendra is backstabbed and killed. Kattappa is made aware of Bhallaladeva's treachery and exposes it to Shivagami, who regrets while Devasena delivers a male child. Shivagami declares to the panicked hordes outside the palace that Amarendra died and his son Mahendra Baahubali would ascend the throne. She orders an assembly to punish Bhallaladeva and his father but as Bhallaladeva and his men are about to seize Shivagami, she flees with the new King but falls into a river after being hit by an arrow shot by Bhallaladeva which leads her to a passage that ends down the mountain. Bhallaladeva becomes a tyrannical emperor who holds Devasena prisoner for the next 25 years and destroys Kuntala, Mahendra ends up in alliance with the rebels who try to rescue her. After listening to the whole story, Mahendra Baahubali (alias Shivudu / Shiva) immediately declares war. He assembles the rebel army, consisting of villagers and scattered soldiers.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: With Kattappa's and Avantika's assistance, the army lays siege to Mahishmati. Bhallaladeva recaptures Devasena, but Kattappa, Mahendra, and the rebels breach the city walls and save her. Mahendra fights his uncle and pins him down using the chains from Devasena's cage. After completing a cleansing ritual, Devasena burns Bhallaladeva on a pyre, ending his reign permanently. The next day, Mahendra is crowned as the new king of Mahishmati with Avantika as his queen. He declares Mahishmati will be dedicated to upholding peace and justice under his leadership. He also orders his men to toss the head of Bhallaladeva's statue out of the palace walls, where it is swept to the great waterfall. It breaks as it falls and crashes against the cliff's walls and lands near the lingam that Mahendra carried earlier.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: "Baahubali: The Conclusion" was produced by Tollywood, the centre of Telugu-language films in India based out of Hyderabad. However, it was filmed in both the Telugu and Tamil languages simultaneously. The film series is touted to be the most expensive in India as of this date. Rajamouli's father V. Vijayendra Prasad who wrote stories for most of his films once again gave the story for "Baahubali". The series was produced by Shobu Yarlagadda and Prasad Devineni. R.C.Kamalakannan was chosen as visual effects supervisor and Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao was the editor. PM Satheesh was the sound designer and stunt sequences were coordinated by King Solomon, Lee Whittaker, and Kecha. The film's costume designers are Rama Rajamouli and Prasanthi Tripuraneni. The line producer was M.M Srivalli. The film shooting started on 17 December 2015 at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad with Prabhas and Ramya Krishna. The film featuring Telugu actors Prabhas and Rana Daggubati in the lead roles became the biggest ever movie in India in terms of scale of production and making . The film is also known by the abbreviation "BB2". Sabu Cyril was the production designer and Peter Hein was the choreographer. R. C. Kamalakannan was the VFX supervisor and was assisted by Pete Draper and Adel Adili, co-founder of Makuta VFX.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Prabhas was cast as main lead of the film. Anushka Shetty was cast as the lead actress of the film as she was also a part of "Mirchi" (2013). She coincidentally became the first heroine Rajamouli repeated in his films and thus made her schedules full for 2013 and 2014. Rana Daggubati was cast as the antagonist of the film and coincidentally he was also a part of "Rudhramadevi". Sathyaraj signed the film.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: In April 2013, Adivi Sesh was cast for a crucial role in the film as Rajamouli was impressed by his work in "Panjaa" (2011). Actress Ramya Krishna was chosen to play the crucial role in the film as "Rajamatha" in August 2013. Actor Nassar was selected to play a supporting role. Charandeep was selected to play the brother of the film's chief villain. On 20 December 2013 a press release stated that Tamannaah will be starring in the film playing the role of "Avanthika". Meka Ramakrishna was picked for the head of the Kuntala guerillas.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Rana Daggubati was said to be playing the role of Prabhas' brother and he too underwent a lot of physical transformation satisfying the role he was assigned to play in the film. He also underwent training in Martial arts under the supervision of a Vietnamese trainer, Tuan. Sathyaraj has a Tonsured look for his role in the film. Sudeep said that he would play the role of a weapons trader Aslam Khan in this film. In the end of October 2013, Rana appeared at a fashion show with a beefed up body which, according to him, was a part of his look in the film. In mid-May 2014, reports emerged that Anushka would play a pregnant woman for a few sequences in the second part of the film.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: At the same time, Prabhas posted on his Facebook page that he underwent minor shoulder surgery and would join the film's sets in a span of a month. On 1 June 2014, Prabhas and Rana's trainer Lakshman Reddy, said that Prabhas started his training 8 months before the commencement of shooting and after two years, both of them weighed nearly 100 kilos each. He also added that Prabhas has two attires with a heavy, bulky body for Baahubali's role and a lean physique for the second role. For his look, Prabhas met WWE superstars like The Undertaker in February 2014 and interacted with them about their daily regimen and workouts.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Prabhas had equipment costing 15 million shipped to his home, where he built a personal gym. His breakfast included 40 half-boiled egg whites blended and added with protein powder. In mid-June 2014, regarding her role in the film, Tamannaah said that she would be playing the role of a warrior princess named Avanthika and her appearance in the film is completely different when compared to her past films. Before joining the film's shoot, Tamannaah did costume trials for the film which she confirmed in her micro-blogging page stating "I am very excited to get on to the set of Baahubali. I did some dress trials today and my look in this movie will be totally new. I have never been seen in such sort of a look till now. It will be a new role for me." Rajamouli called Tamannaah and her characterisation as a "value addition" to the movie. She stated that she plays Avanthika, and had a special training and diet regime. The film introduced a new language called Kiliki.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: On 22 November 2016, a 2-minute war sequence from the film was leaked and posted on Facebook and Twitter. The following day, the police arrested a video editor for stealing and uploading the scenes. The "Deccan Chronicle", noticing the lack of punishment, felt the leak was a publicity stunt. Following this, a 9-minute war sequence supposedly from the climax was leaked. The video lacked VFX.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: In March 2017, Rajamouli said in an interview that "Why Kattappa killed Baahubali" is the theme of the film. The tagline "The boy he raised, the man he killed" was billed in a poster featuring Kattappa. Rajamouli had stated that the Mahabharata was a source of inspiration for the film. According to K.K. Senthil Kumar, the colour palette used was based on the "mood and feel." He contrasts different tones used within the film: warm colours for Mahishmati, cool colours for Kuntala, desaturated colours for the frame in which Baahubali is expelled.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Kanniks Kannikeswaran writes the characters resemble those "from "Chandamama" issues from the 1960s and 70s" and feels that the "plots and subplots that bear distinct similarities to themes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata." He calls Amarendra the "perfect Rama," while calling Bhallaladeva "Duryodana incarnate, an atatayi." Bijjaladeva is compared to Shakuni, while the death of Bhadrudu is compared to Jayadratha's death in the Mahabharata. Kannikeswaran also feels that the film has visual parallels with "The Lion King", while also noting the similarities with "Mulan". Writing about the similarities with the latter, he states, "Mulan pins a villain to a roof where he is reduced to ashes right in the midst of a firework display. The evil Bhallala is pinned with a sword to the 'chita' pyre that consumes him in the final frames of the film." He calls the film "Shivocentric," noting the appearance of a Shivatandava stotra and that Shiva is the tutelage deity of Mahishmati. The main character is healed by Shiva in the end of the film, while noting Ganesha also makes an appearance in a fire ritual.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: According to Chandan Gowda, a professor at the Azim Premji University, "the social order [in the film] appears to be a varna order: Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas are named with the Shudras staying an unnamed presence," also noting that "Muslims are also part of the Mahishmati kingdom." Mahesh Kathi felt that the modules and imagery were borrowed from Indian epics like Mahabharata and called Prabhas' character "a mix of the Pandavas put together," while Gowda writes that the influence is "at best rough," stating that the film cannot match the "moral depth or complexity" of "Mahabharata". He further contrasts the themes of both, writing, "the heroes have failings and the villains redeeming virtues, making us morally ambivalent towards them both,


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Baahubali goes for black and white: its heroes are wholly good and the villains pure evil." According to Gowda, the palace scenes resemble those in "Ben Hur" (1959) and "Troy" (2004) while the fight sequences are similar to the Chinese films "Crouching Tiger", "Hidden Dragon" (2000).


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Critics noticed similarities between "Baahubali 2" and "The Lion King", an adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (1599–1602). This similarity was also felt by fans, who created memes of the comparison. "The Indian Express" makes a comparison, stating that both films are a tale of two brothers, where inhabitants suffer under a cruel ruler, who is the brother of a kind ruler. The son of the kind ruler grows in remote lands, unaware of his lineage, guided to his home by his love interest. The spouse of the kind ruler is treated badly by the cruel ruler. The son also has an advisor, who helps him realize his identity. They further note that the kind ruler and his son look similar in both films. "Firstpost" notes that both Bhallaladeva and Scar share a scar on one eye, and both Simba and Mahendra are introduced similarly into the world.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Telugu soundtrack was released on 26 March 2017 at the pre-release event of the film at YMCA grounds. The album of the film's Hindi version was released on 5 April 2017, while the Tamil version was released on 9 April. The Malayalam version was released on 24 April 2017.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Initially scheduled for release in Summer 2016, the release date of "Baahubali 2" was postponed to November 2016 due to preparations for the international release of "The Beginning" in various locations. This was further pushed to 28 April 2017.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: At first, the joint budget of both "The Beginning" and "The Conclusion" was speculated to be around 2.5 billion. This was later confirmed by Rajamouli in 2015. However, the joint budget of the series was increased to 4.3 billion, of which 1.8 billion was the budget for "The Beginning" and 2.5 billion for "The Conclusion". The climax of "The Conclusion" alone cost 300 million, almost double the amount of "The Beginning" climax.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: An initial limited release of "Baahubali 2" took place in most Gulf countries, including the UAE, on 27 April 2017. In India, the film was released on 28 April.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: The film was screened at the British Film Institute. It was also premiered at the 39th Moscow International Film Festival. The film was also showcased at the 49th International Film Festival of India in the "Indian Panorama" section.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: According to Umair Sandhu, a member of the UAE censor board, "Baahubali 2" received a standing ovation from the board during its review. On 22 April, the Telugu version of "Baahubali 2" was reviewed by the Indian Censor Board and given an U/A rating with minor cuts. The Japanese Censor Board gave a rating of G with no cuts. The Central Board of Film Censors, Pakistan, cleared the film with an "all clear" status and zero cuts. In Singapore, the film received an 'A' (adult) certificate, which an "Indiatimes" report attributes to the portrayal of violent scenes.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: "Baahubali 2" was released across more than 9,000 plus screens worldwide- 6500 screens in India alone, breaking the record for the widest Indian film release. It released in conventional 2D as well as in IMAX format. This made "Baahubali 2" the third Indian film to release in IMAX, following "Dhoom 3" and "Bang Bang!". It was released in Telugu and Tamil along with dubbed versions in Hindi and Malayalam. In Kerala, the film was released across 395 screens. The film was released in 1,100 screens in the United States, and 150 screens in Canada. The Hindi version was released in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji Islands, while the Tamil version was released in Malaysia. In Pakistan, the Hindi version was released in over 100 screens. The first Telugu film to be released in 4K High Definition format, close to 200 screens were upgraded to 4K projectors before the release date of the film. In Japan, the film was later dubbed into Japanese and will be released on 29 December. Despite the various measures taken, pirated versions of "Baahubali 2" were available on the Internet within hours of the film's release. The film was dubbed in Russian and released in Russia and neighboring territories on 11 January 2018. It was censored for release in China in March 2018 and was released in Chinese on 4 May 2018.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: A 25-member marketing team at Arka was responsible for marketing "Baahubali 2". On 30 September 2016, the logo of Baahubali 2 was revealed along with the tagline 'Why Kattappa Killed Baahubali'. On 22 October 2016, the first look poster of the film was released on the birthday of Prabhas. The poster, according to "CNN-News18", features Prabhas flexing his muscles, holding a two edged sword and a chain in either of his hands, while The Hindu notices the presence of Amarendra Baahubali in the background. Rana Daggubati's first look as Bhallaladeva was further revealed on his birthday. According to "The Indian Express", the poster features Rana Daggubati as Bhallaladeva with "a vicious glare, salt-and-pepper hair with a man bun, cladding a bullish armour and holding a humongous retractable mace." A virtual reality teaser was also released. On 26 January 2017, the first look poster of Anushka Shetty as Devasena was released. The trailer of the film was released on 17 March 2017.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: "Baahubali 2" was also promoted extensively on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Upon being asked about the film's marketing, Yarlagadda said, "The idea was to engage with different demographics, who are interested in different things. If you are into technology, then Baahubali VR becomes a driving factor for you to watch the film; if you are into graphic novels and gaming, we had plans to address those needs too." A graphic novel titled "Baahubali The Battle of the Bold" was released digitally on 28 February 2017. Rajamouli approached Anand Neelakantan to write a series subtitled "Before the Beginning". The first novel in the series, titled "The Rise of Sivagami", was released on 7 March 2017. A clothing line based on the film was revealed on 7 April at a fashion show, with the cast including Rana Daggubati and Tamanaah attending it. The makers further collaborated with Moonfrog Labs to create an online multiplayer game titled "Baahubali The Game", which published on 28 April 2017. In a review for the game, Srivathsan Nadadhur of "The Hindu" writes, "while it seems a little familiar, it is good fun as long as it lasts." The cast arrived in Dubai to inaugurate the film's release in a promotional event on 25 April 2017.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: It was rumoured that Great India Films had brought the US distribution rights of "Baahubali 2". However, these rumours were refuted by Great India Films. Cinestaan AA Distributors distributed the Hindi version in US, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Srinivasan of Says S Pictures distributed the film in North Arcot and South Arcot in Tamil Nadu. The Hindi version was distributed in North India by Anil Thadani's AA Films and presented by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions. In Malaysia, the film was distributed by MSK Film Production and Antenna Entertainments. Amjad Rasheed distributed the film in Pakistan. Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam broadcasting rights were brought by Star India for 280 million. Sony acquired the satellite rights for the Hindi version for 500 million.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: "Baahubali 2" set a record collection of 5 billion before the release of the film through satellite and theatrical rights. The Telugu version of the film was insured against financial loss by Future Generali for 2 billion. "Netflix" brought the rights of "Baahubali 2" for 255 million.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: About one million tickets were sold within 24 hours of the advance booking. Tickets were sold out until 2 May. Later, tickets for the first week were sold out. The sale rate was the highest ever in India, beating the record held by Dangal. Booking sites of multiplex players crashed down due to high traffic. In UAE, the film sold more than hundred thousand tickets before release, the highest ever for an Indian film, breaking the record held by "Fast and Furious" bookings. BookMyShow and PayTM offered discounts on "Baahubali 2" tickets. At the end of its theatrical run in India "Baahubali 2" had sold an estimated 100million tickets, the highest estimated footfall for any film in India in decades; Box Office India notes that the estimated footfalls of "Mother India" (1957), "Mughal-e-Azam" (1960) and "Sholay" (1975) could be more than that of "Baahubali 2".


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: The morning shows of "Baahubali 2" in several cinema theatres across Tamil Nadu were halted. The reason being was that the rights to distribute the film "Baahubali 2" in Tamil, which was initially sold by Arka Media Works to K Productions, was resold by the latter to Sri Green Productions. Sri Green Productions was unable to pay the full amount leading to problems in the film's distribution as Sri Green had already made deals with local distributors. Arka Media Works had to intervene to resolve the financial issues and had to bear the full cost for the smooth release of the film. Scenes from "Baahubali 2" were released online 2 days before the film's release. Activists in Karnataka threatened to stall the film's release in their state due to a statement made by Sathyaraj concerning the Cauvery river, unless the actor apologized. Sathyaraj later apologized for hurting the sentiments of the activists. The entertainment tax to be paid on each ticket was not paid, due to the sale of unaccounted tickets.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: "Baahubali 2" grossed 2.126 billion on its opening day and 5.26 billion in its opening weekend worldwide. It also became the highest grossing Indian film worldwide with a gross of 7.92 billion in six days. It became the first Indian film to enter the 1000 Crore Club, grossing over 10 billion in all languages in India. and further grossed over 12.5 billion in all languages by the end of two weeks.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: The film was the 39th highest-grossing film of 2017, grossing over (US$ million) in India and over (US$ million) overseas, for a worldwide gross of (US$ million) by September 2017.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: "Baahubali 2" grossed 1.526 billion in India on the first day of its release. In 3 days, the film grossed 3.91 billion, setting the record for the highest opening weekend gross in India. It became the highest-grossing film in India grossing 5.65 billion in 5 days. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion crossed 10 billion nett. mark in India in all languages in 30 days. The film grossed 3.279 billion in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 1.526 billion in Tamil Nadu, 1.29 billion in Karnataka and 750 million in Kerala. In the rest of India "Baahubali 2" grossed about 7.324 billion taking the film's total gross in India to 14.169 billion which is the highest for a film in India. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion netted 11.156 billion in India and its distributor share was 6.6135 billion. The Hindi dubbed version of the film grossed more than ₹511 crore which is the highest collection for any film in Hindi language only.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: "Baahubali 2" grossed 600 million overseas on the first day of its release, the highest opening for an Indian film surpassing "Kabali". In 3 days, the film collected 1.35 billion from the overseas market with 640 million coming from the US alone, setting the humongous record for 3 day collection. "Baahubali 2" grossed 81 million, third on the global box office list, during the opening weekend, 10.1 million in the United States alone, the highest-ever opening for an Indian film in the US. On 3 May 2017, "Baahubali 2" became the highest grossing Indian film at the US box office with US$12.5 million, surpassing "Dangal"s gross of US$12.3 million.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: It became the first Indian film to exceed $11.1 million in takings in Middle-East-GCC-Gulf, surpassing "Bajrangi Bhaijaan". , the film had grossed US$20,186,659 in the United States.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: In China, "Baahubali 2" made a number-three debut at the box office (behind domestic Chinese films "Us and Them" and "A or B") with an opening-day gross of , surpassing the lifetime gross of "Baahubali: The Beginning" (US$1.8 million). "Baahubali 2" grossed in its opening weekend.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: In Japan, the film grossed by April 2018, becoming the third highest-grossing Indian film there, after Rajnikanth's Tamil film "Muthu" (1995) and Aamir Khan's Bollywood film "3 Idiots" (2009). "Baahubali 2" later grossed by May 2018, and has grossed .


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: The film received universal acclaim and from both the critics and audience. Rachit Gupta from "Filmfare" gave the film a rating of 4.5/5, stating, "SS Rajamouli's much-awaited sequel is the kind of movie Indian cinema should make regularly. It's the kind of sweeping magnum opus that Indian mythos and culture deserve. It's the biggest film we have ever made and barring a few minor glitches in CGI, this film is possibly the greatest spectacle you'll see on a big screen, in your life." Sangeetha Devi Dundoo from "The Hindu" stated, "For the most part, "The Conclusion" doesn't let us take our eyes off the screen. It's designed to be a cinematic celebration, one that deserves to be watched on the largest screen possible". Anupama Subramanian of the "Deccan Chronicle" gave the film a 3.5/5, praising the acting of the stars while complaining about "the lack of a solid plot' and called the ending "predictable."


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Vishnuprasad Pillai of "Asianet News" gave a negative review, writing that the film "offers nothing new... The writing from KV Vijayendra Prasad fails inspire or to do justice to an epic of such scale," adding that "the dialogues at times are downright corny and plot developments cringe-worthy." Dipanjan Sinha of "Hindustan Times" gave the film a rating of 3/5 stars, praising the film's cinematography and special effects, but found faults with some of the female characters. Sinha stated, "Devasena ... starts off as an ace warrior only to be tamed into someone who has to be protected." Shubhra Gupta of "Indian Express" rated the film 2/5 stars, noting problems with pacing and sound, writing, "The background music is relentless, and the pitch at which the declamatory dialogues are delivered is deafening: there were times I felt like closing my ears." Taran Adarsh of "Bollywood Hungama" rates the film 4.5 out of 5 and praises the performance of the cast, writing, "It's a feast for moviegoers and has the trappings to make all generations its fan."


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Meena Iyer from "The Times of India" rated it 4/5, writing: "Just savor it. It is a visual extravaganza that India must feast on ... Prabhas is terrific as father and son. Of course, it is CGI and VFX that grab you in your seat." Hemanth Kumar from "Firstpost" called it "Rajamouli's epic drama" and rated it 4/5.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Sukanya Verma from "Rediff" rated the film 3.5/5, writing the film, "continues its tradition of grandiloquence and magnitude... high drama, more than spectacle, is what lends its riveting tale of revenge and glory all its wallop and wizardry." She also praised the film's cast and director stating, "Equipped with a cast that's not only in tune with Rajamouli's vision but knows exactly where to hold back and when to give their all adds to Baahubali's might."


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: It was further featured in Rotten Tomatoes' list of Best Off the Radar Films of 2017, in which Tim Ryan writes, ""Baahubali 2: The Conclusion" plays like a shotgun wedding between "Ben Hur" and "Kung Fu Hustle", seasoned with bits of Shakespeare, Kurosawa, and Buster Keaton," opining, "it's a blockbuster that's both gigantic and lighter than air." Mike McCahill of The Guardian gave a 4/5 rating and called it "a jaw-dropping blockbuster that combines nimble action with genuine heart". He also stated, "This production's triumph is the room it's granted Rajamouli to head into the fields and dream up endlessly expressive ways to frame bodies in motion. Of the many sequences here primed to cut through jadedness, perhaps the most wondrous is that which finds Baahu guiding Deva mid-battle to shoot three arrows simultaneously – a set piece that speaks both to a love of action, and love in action. The budget's big, the muscle considerable, but they're nothing compared with "Baahubali"s heart."


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Manjusha Radhakrishnan of "Gulf News" rates the film 3.5 out of 5 and writes, "This is a sweeping visual spectacle filled with epic battle scenes, clashes between warring troops from Indian mythology and elephants on a rampage," but further added, "There were times in the second half where you felt the computer-generated graphics took over the story. But all this is new and exotic for Indian cinema." Shilpa Jamkhandikar of "Reuters" writes, "It may not up the ante from the last film, but it doesn't let up on the pace either. For an Indian film, that is no mean feat." J Hurtado of "ScreenAnarchy" writes, "It's a bit daunting because it does begin in media res immediately following the complex actions of the first film, but astute viewers will put together the pieces soon enough." Kabita Maharana of "International Business Times" gave a rating of 4 out of 5 and writes, "From the very first scene, the film is a visual extravaganza. Every frame is meticulously captured by SS Rajamouli and his team. This is the first Indian film hailed for excelling in visual effects."


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film a 4/4 rating and writes the film "is everything I want but rarely get from superhero and big-budget fantasy movie" adding "the fight scenes... are so creative that they make even the most frequently abused creative shortcuts seem novel, everything from computer-generated imagery (CGI) to speed-ramping... You care what happens to the cast as they, aided by wires, hurl volleys of arrows at disposable minions and CGI animals." Anita Iyer from "Khaleej Times" rates the film 3.5 out of 5 and writes, "What stands out in the film is the powerful star cast. Enough has been said already about the acting prowess of Prabhas but he has an equally supportive cast to hold the film. Ramya Krishna as Sivagami, is known for her impressive acting talent and proves her mettle here. Another veteran, Sathyaraj as Katappa excels and you develop a camaraderie with him. Rana Daggubati is aptly spiteful in his portrayal of the villain... Nassar, as his father, is busy spewing venom but his role could have been meatier."


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: "Baahubali 2" won the Telstra People's Choice Award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, sharing the prize with "Dangal". Tamannaah Bhatia and K.V. Vijayendra Prasad won the Global Indian Impact Icon Award for "Baahubali 2" at NRI of the Year Awards. The CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Awards (2017) for Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment was given to Team Baahubali. Prabhas, Shetty, Keeravani, Rajamouli were nominated for Favorite Hero Of The Year, Favorite Heroine of the Year, Favorite Music Director and Favourite Director respectively, while Saahore Baahubali and the film were nominated for Favourite Song and Favourite Film at the Zee Telugu Golden Awards. "Baahubali 2" won the Saturn Award for Best International Film at the 44th Saturn Awards. At the 65th National Film Awards, it won in three categories: Best Stunt Choreography, Best Special Effects and Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. "Baahubali 2" also received nominations in every category (except Best Male Playback Singer – Telugu) at the 65th Filmfare Awards South. It also won in all categories, except for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Playback Singer – Female. It got two nominations at the 10th Mirchi Music Awards.


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Rajinikanth praised "Baahubali 2", calling Rajamouli "god's own child" and equating the film to "Indian cinema's pride." Chiranjeevi praised the film and stated that Rajamouli "deserved all accolades" for making the film. Mahesh Bhatt called it "a game changer" that "redefines everything you thought you knew and understood about Indian movies." His daughter Alia Bhatt called the film a "rock buster." Mahesh Babu stated the film "exceed expectations," while Shekhar Kapur congratulated Rajamouli. Shah Rukh Khan, despite not watching the film, praised it and said, "But if you want to create that big cinema and that big dream to sell to a big number of people, you have to have guts to take that storytelling on and say it in the biggest, nicest, boldest way possible. "Baahubali" stands for that."


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Prasad had confirmed that a third cinematic part will not occur in the franchise. However, Yarlagadda said, "We have an animated series that is premiering on Amazon. Then we have graphic and regular novels that will tell us the backstory of the Mahishmati kingdom. We want to make the story of Sivagami – how she became a power centre into a TV series in a grand way. There is also a virtual reality experience. We have many more plans where fans can engage in the world of "Bahubali"." This was also confirmed by Prabhas, who said, "We are done with the story of "Baahubali", there cannot be a third part. But the world and the legacy of "Baahubali" will live on through a comic series and a TV series."


title: Baahubali 2: The Conclusion

text: Prabhas, Bhatia and Shetty were a part of IMDb's Top Ten Stars of Indian Cinema list of 2017. "Baahubali 2" was the most talked about film in India on Twitter in 2017. On Google, the film was the most searched topic and most searched film in India for the year 2017. Worldwide, it was the 7th most searched film in 2017. The song "Saahore Baahubali" topped the list of most searched for songs in India. Owing to the success of the film, the set of the film at the Ramoji Film City was opened for tourism. According to Firstpost, the only phenomenon comparable to the "Baahubali mania" was Rajinikanth fandom. The Wikipedia article on "Baahubali 2" became the most read film article on the encyclopedia in 2017. The "Baahubali 2" trailer was the second most viewed in the year of 2017 on YouTube with more than 29 million views behind the "" trailer.


title: The Mummy (1999 film)

text: The Mummy is a 1999 American action-adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It is a remake of the 1932 film of the same name, starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film follows adventurer Rick O'Connell as he travels to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, with a librarian and her older brother, where they accidentally awaken Imhotep, a cursed high priest with supernatural powers.


title: The Mummy (1999 film)

text: Development of the film took years, with multiple screenplays and directors attached. In 1997, Stephen Sommers successfully pitched his version of a more adventurous and romantic take on the source material. Principal photography took place in Morocco and the United Kingdom; the crew endured dehydration, sandstorms, and snakes shooting on location in the Sahara desert. Industrial Light & Magic provided many of the visual effects, blending live-action footage and computer-generated imagery to create the titular monster. Jerry Goldsmith provided the orchestral score.


title: The Mummy (1999 film)

text: "The Mummy" was theatrically released on May 7, 1999. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a commercial success and grossed over $416.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $80 million. The film's success spawned two direct sequels, "The Mummy Returns" (2001) and "" (2008). It also led to spinoffs such as an animated series and the prequel "The Scorpion King" (2002), which generated its own sequels. Attempts to reboot the property and kickstart a new media franchise led to a 2017 film.


title: The Mummy (1999 film)

text: In Thebes, Egypt, 1290 BC, high priest Imhotep has an affair with Anck-su-namun, the mistress of Pharaoh Seti I. They kill the Pharaoh after he discovers their relationship. Imhotep flees, while Anck-su-namun kills herself, believing he can resurrect her. He and his priests steal her corpse and travel to Hamunaptra, the city of the dead. The resurrection ritual is stopped by Pharaoh's bodyguards, the Medjai. Imhotep is buried alive with flesh-eating scarab beetles and locked in a sarcophagus at the feet of a statue of the Egyptian god Anubis. The Medjai are sworn to prevent Imhotep's return.