Entertainment
‘Sameer’: Performances keep narrative afloat (IANS Review, Rating: **1/2)
By Troy Ribeiro
Film: “Sameer”; Director: Dakxin Chhara; Cast: Seema Biswas, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Anjali Patil, Subrat Dutta, Chinmay Mandlekar, Jay Bhatt, Alok Gagdekar, Master Shubham Bajrange and Manoj Shah; Rating: **1/2
“Sameer” is a cleverly crafted but one-dimensional political drama that involves terrorism. It is a fictionalised film based on true incidents.
Set in the backdrop of the bomb blasts in the country, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub plays Sameer, an engineering student who is caught between the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and the terrorists.
After a bomb explosion in Hyderadad, the ATS is hunting for Yaseen Darzi, the Ahmedabad-based suspect responsible for the blast. Since they cannot lay their hands on him at the hostel, they pick up his room-mate Sameer instead. They force him to penetrate the terrorist lines as an under-cover so that they may reach Yaseen.
How Sameer manipulates both the ATS and the terrorists, forms the crux of the tale.
Designed as an engaging thriller, the film is astutely mounted by director Dakxin Chhara. With measured enthusiasm, he keeps you glued to Sameer’s tale to a point where you actually feel pity for the character. It is only in the third act that you realise the story hits a predictable note and the denouement further makes the entire plot seem ridiculously shallow.
The film tries to put some very important points across, subtly. Some, especially about anti-terrorism discussed between Yaseen’s mother and her other son Shaheed, hit the right note. Whereas others about living in harmony, designed as street performances by the street performer Manto, seem forced and are lost, as they fail to make an impact.
Zeeshan Ayyub is a skilled actor and he plays Sameer convincingly. He portrays the attitude, arrogance and helplessness of his character with sincerity.
Anjali Patil as the broadcast journalist Alia Iradi, is short-changed by an ineffective screenplay. While her character is well-established, there are hardly any scenes which reflect her expertise as a professional journalist. Instead, her personal equation with the ATS Chief Vikram Desai takes centre stage.
Seema Biswas as Yaseen’s mother, also known as “Tiffinwali Khaala”, plays her part honestly. It is touching to see her give a cold shoulder to her son Shaheed and later emotionally tell him off for his wrong doings.
Master Shubham Bajrange, as the autistic orphan Rocket, tugs an emotional chord with his performance.
Among the supporting cast, Chinmay Mandlekar as the steely Shaheed, Alok Gagdekar as Manto and Subrat Dutta as ATS Chief Desai, deliver competent performances. They have their moments of onscreen glory.
Technically, the film is well-mounted. With excellent production design, every frame is realistic. The indoor shots are atmospheric and well-captured by cinematographer Gargey Trivedi’s lens. His camera movements too are smooth and elegant.
The visuals are seamlessly layered by editor Aashish Mayur Shah, with composer Sharaaz Khan’s eclectic background score.
Overall, Sameer opens with a bang but peters out with a whimper.
–IANS
troy/rb/sac
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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