Entertainment
Marathi film ‘The Silence’ to release on October 6
Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS) “The Silence” — a Marathi film featuring “Sairat” fame director Nagraj Manjule and Raghubir Yadav — has been slated for a release on October 6 in Maharashtra.
Directed by Gajendra Ahire, the drama film also features Anjali Patil, Kadambari Kadam, Mugdha Chaphekar and Vedashree Mahajan. The film will release with English subtitles and has also been made in Hindi.
The film tackles the crucial, taboo topic of sexual assault and its aftermath, tracing the recurring question of responsibility or silence.
“The movie challenges the notion that the victim is at fault. It’s not her fault that she goes out in darkness to answer nature’s call and gets assaulted. It’s not her fault she has to use the crowded public transport and it’s certainly not her fault when her father or uncle takes advantage of her,” Gajendra Ahire said in a statement.
Produced by SMR Films, “The Silence” is based on a true story and revolves around a little girl Chinni who grows up in a rural area. Circumstances force Chinni’s father to send her uncle to a nearby town and life takes a drastic and unexpected turn.
On being part of the project, Manjule said: “Gajendraji had narrated the script to me and I found it extremely powerful. Moreover, it also gave me an opportunity to work with some fantastic actors like Anjali Patil and Raghubir Yadav.”
After Maharashtra, the makers will later release the film pan-India.
“The Silence” has won honours at several international film festivals including the Best Child Actor award (for Vedashree) at the 16th New York Indian Film Festival, The German Star Of India (for Gajendra) at Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart 2015, Best Screenplay and Best Debut Actress Award (for Anjali) at the Karrm Filmfare Marathi Awards 2016 and Best Child Actress (Vedashree) and Best Debut Actress Award (for Anjali Patil) at the Maharashtra State Awards 2016.
–IANS
sas/rb/dg
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.
Content provided by Adverloom