Entertainment
Naseeruddin, Mithun in film on Shastri
Mumbai, Jan 11 (IANS) On Lal Bahadur Shastri’s 52nd death anniversary on Thursday, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri announced he has roped in veteran actors Naseeruddin Shah and Mithun Chakaraborty for a movie on the former Prime Minister’s controversial death.
The investigative thriller film is titled “The Tashkent Files”.
“A film on the biggest cover-up of a free India required that we work with great actors with credibility. Both Naseer and Mithunda are multiple-time National Award winners. It is a privilege to work with such involved and passionate actors of our times,” Agnihotri told IANS.
The movie will have two sides to the narrative and its story is a crowd-sourced idea, read a statement issued on behalf of the makers.
On Thursday, Agnihotri tweeted: “On this day, our second PM Lal Bahadur Shashtri died mysteriously in Tashkent. Was it heart attack or poison? Even after 52 years, the truth of the biggest cover-up of free India has been denied to his family, followers, citizens. After years of research, I present ‘The Tashkent Files’.”
The director will cast a prominent actor for the role of Shastri. The announcement will happen soon. The film goes on floors next week.
Shastri died in Tashkent, then in the Soviet Union, soon after signing a peace pact with Pakistani rulers to end the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
–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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