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‘The Greatest Showman’: Remarkably rousing and entertaining (IANS Review, Rating: ***1/2)

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By Troy Ribeiro
Film: “The Greatest Showman”; Director: Michael Gracey; Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Keala Settle, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Paul Sparks, Sam Humphrey, Aystyn Johnson and Cameron Seely; Rating: ***1/2

A period drama, directed by debutant Michael Gracey, the film is an original musical, loosely based on the life of Phineas Taylor Barnum, a visionary who rose from nothing to become a worldwide sensation of his times.

P.T. Barnum was an American showman, politician and businessman remembered for founding one of the earliest circus in the US — the Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Set in the mid-19th century, the film tells us how as a kid of humble origin, Phineas faced discrimination because he was a tailor’s son. Also being a dreamer who won’t amount to anything remarkable, he was cast aside by the community, especially the father of the girl he loves.

He decides to “run away to the world, we design” and starts off as a railway employee. He gradually marries Charity (Michelle Williams), the woman of his dreams and lands up working in a boring clerical job. It is only after being fired from that job as the company becomes bankrupt, that Phineas ponders as to what he wants from life.

Soon, he realises that his calling is in amusing people, “cause every night I lie in bed, the brightest colours fill my head. A million dreams are keeping me awake”. So he decides to open a museum which gradually takes the shape of a circus and his dreams eventually come true after hard times and much hesitation.

The tale tabulates his meteoric rise and delivers on the theatrics and wide-eyed buoyancy of a man fulfilling his dreams and rising above his class. The film does not pride itself on dramatics or originality in terms of story, instead choosing to excel in other areas.

The script, written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon, is definitely a rose-tinted version of reality but nevertheless it is an awe-inspiring piece of escapism. With eleven songs in the narrative, the film is an extravaganza with excellent composition and choreography by choreographer Ashley Wallen.

The songs range from emotional to straight-up toe-tapping songs. While all the songs are excellent and seamlessly mesh with the plot, the choreography of “How do we rewrite the stars” picturised on Zac Efron and Zendaya, stands out.

Initially, the flavour of the narrative does seem synthetic, but when one of the odd characters reiterates and sings, “when the sharpest words cut me down this is me”, the beat changes and the film touches an emotional chord.

Forever charming, Hugh Jackman does slip into Barnum’s skin perfectly, but it is this conventional hero character that makes the film seem contrived.

Jackman is aptly supported by Michelle Williams who plays Charity, his angelic wife and mother to his two daughters, Zac Efron as the love-struck actor Phillip Carlyle who becomes his business partner, Zendaya as the trapeze artist and Efron’s love interest, Rebecca Fergusson as the singer Jenny Lind. They are all impressive in their respective space and elevate the viewing experience with their performances.

Of the other supporting actors, it is Sam Humphrey as the diminutive Charles Stratton and Keala Settle as the “bearded lady” Lettie who are given significant screen time

The production designs by Nathan Crowley and the costumes by Ellen Mirojnick are impressive to say the least. They are astutely captured by Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey’s lens whose frames are seamlessly laid by the editing team comprising of Tom Cross, Robert Duffy, Joe Hutshing, Michael McCusker, Jon Poll and Spencer Susser. Some of the transitions are effectively outstanding.

Overall, “The Greatest Showman”, is remarkably rousing and entertaining.

–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.

CasinoDays India

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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