Entertainment
Independence of IFFI will never get compromised: Vani Tripathi
New Delhi, Nov 16 (IANS) IFFI steering committee member Vani Tripathi Tikoo has questioned filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh over mailing his resignation as the head of the jury of the Indian Panorama Section of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) to the media, instead of discussing the matter with the ministry.
Vani also asserted that the independence and democracy of IFFI has never been compromised.
“I have been part of the steering committee for over the last four years and I can say this with confidence that not one person has ever picked up the phone and told us what to do. The independence and the democracy of the festival has never got and will never get compromised,” Vani said in a statement.
Ghosh resigned as head of the jury to protest the decision to exclude “S Durga” and “Nude”.
The 13-member jury, led by Ghosh, had reportedly included both the movies in their recommended list, but they did not find their way in the list passed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Talking about the issue, Vani said: “I also want to ask Mr Sujoy Ghosh that if he had such a big issue then why is he sitting outside the country mailing his resignation to the media? Why didn’t he pick up the phone on the ministry?
“At the end of the day its very simple… the government has used its discretion and it has used its absolute power to do so.”
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar also gave a clarification on the issue, by saying that: “Films ‘S Durga’ and ‘Nude’ were dropped from the screening schedule at the upcoming IFFI’s ‘Indian Panorama’ section because the former was submitted without cuts and the latter was incomplete.”
Vani said that all the “films that are being screened at IFFI go through the ministry”.
“The government has not done anything out of bound. ‘Nude’ was an incomplete film and so it came with a rider…it came with a rider from the jury and it came with a rider to the ministry and this rider was exercised as it was an incomplete film and an incomplete film cannot go into the public exhibition space for a festival.
“As far as ‘S Durga’ is concerned, it did not comply with the norms of the censor board and also faced issues with approval at MAMI. How can the ministry be hypocritical and disapprove the screening of a film at one festival but screens it at its own festival?”
Vani, who is also a member of Central Board of Film Certification, stressed: “IFFI is a government festival and we have to respect the fact that the government has to be sensitive and look at the larger picture, as far as the exhibition of content and reaction level is concerned.”
IFFI will be held from November 20-28 in Goa.
–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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