Entertainment
A. K. Bir excited about ‘Antardhwani – Inner Voice’
Mumbai, Aug 24 (IANS) National Award winning cinematographer-filmmaker A. K. Bir has announced his new film titled “Antardhwani – Inner Voice”.
After working on it for the last two years, Bir says he is happy with the way the project has turned out.
“This is a project that I have been working on for the last two years. I prepared many drafts and rejected many, until I reached the final draft, where I thought the story is being communicated the way I wanted it to be,” he said.
“In the process, I met Rajesh Mohanty (the producer) and Swapna Pati (the lead actress), who were curious and interested to do some project. I told them it is not a conventional kind of project. The film will be different in terms of its sensitivity and depth. They immediately agreed and said that they want to do something like this. That’s how the film started,” Bir added.
Bir likes to challenges himself.
“I love challenging situations, in fact, I create such situations which gives me an opportunity to find new ways and different approach towards things, despite the execution getting tougher,” said Bir, who has been a cinematographer for films like “Gharonda”, “Khatta Meetha” and “Hamari Bahu Alka”.
Talking about the plot of “Antardhwani – Inner Voice”, Bir said: “It is about a young mind’s response to an unlawful activity which gradually has an inclination towards crime. The young mind then begins its journey of introspection and slowly goes into realisation. That’s all that I can reveal at this time, rest you will know when the film will release.”
Asked if it is difficult to work with new actors, Bir said: “No matter who you work with, they have to make a conscious effort.
“They could be excellent actors, but for the characterisation to take place, you have to put certain inputs to activate their potential. How you use that potential and how you are going to relate it to the character depends on the director. That’s the challenge a director has to take up.”
–IANS
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Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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