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‘Panchlait’: A punch too late (IANS Review, Rating: **1/2)

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By Troy Ribeiro
Film: “Panchlait”; Director: Prem Prakash Modi; Cast: Amitosh Nagpal, Anuradha Mukherjee, Yashpal Sharma, Rajesh Sharma, Ravi Jhankal, Brijendra Kala, Lalit Parimoo, Pranay Narayan, Arunima Ghosh; Rating: **1/2

This film is based on the famous short story, ‘Panchlight’ (Petromax) by the most successful and influential writers of modern Hindi literature in the post-Premchand era, Phanishwar Nath ‘Renu’. His other short story, “Maare Gaye Gulfam” was adapted into a film – “Teesri Kasam” which was directed by the renowned Basu Bhattacharya in 1966.

Set in 1954 in a village in India and narrated in a non-linear manner, the film gives us an insight into the lives of the people of rural India. It is the story of a village community called Mahato that still has no electricity.

The self-assured and recently orphaned, Godhan (Amitosh Nagpal) returns to his maternal village with the hope of settling down with his childhood sweetheart Munri (Anuradha Mukherjee). Instead he soon finds himself ostracised, by the Panchayat. How he wins the heart of the villagers forms the crux of the tale.

The pressurised paraffin lamp aka Petromax is used as a symbol to show the transition of the villagers from darkness to light.

The story is simple and the plot is astutely handled by director Prem Prakash Modi. The dialect at times is a bit disconcerting, but then 10 minutes into the run-time, the wrinkles crease out.

What keeps you hooked are the interactions between the characters, which seem theatrical at times. While the actors are natural, their demeanour may seem a bit over the top, this is probably to emphasise the period.

Amitosh Nagpal as Godham and Anuradha Mukherjee as Munri are impressive. They make a good pair and their on-screen chemistry is palpable. They are aptly supported by Nayana Bandopadhyay as Munri’s friend Kaneli, Punit Tiwari as Nandji, Malini Sengupta as Gulri Kaki, Yashpal Sharma as the Sarpanch, Iqbal Sultan as one of the panch who calls himself collector.

Visually the look in the film is quite consistent. Every frame is well mounted. The virgin locales are brilliantly captured by cinematographer Joy Supratim’s lens. The few vivid scenic shots canned by the wide angel lens give this film that extra cinematic boost. They add an aura to the narrative.

The background score by Kalyan Sen Barat is light and mellifluous. The music is well incorporated especially with Godham being musically inclined. Breaking into a song seems like a natural process in the narration.

Overall this film is sweet, meticulously crafted but a bit outdated drama in today’s scenario.

–IANS
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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

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.

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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.

 

CasinoDays India

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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