Entertainment
Parul Yadav feels #MeToo movement is positive change in film industry
Mumbai: Indian film actress Parul Yadav, who is playing the lead role in the Kannada remake of the Bollywood film “Queen”, says from removing the accused from his position to creating collective consciousness among people regarding sexual harassment at the workplace, #MeToo movement is a positive change in every workplace including film industry.
“The voice of women has been suppressed for years, it is great to see how stories of injustice, humiliation and harassment not only come out in the media but also legal action has been taken. There are film directors who had to stop working unless the legal process gets over. Now no member of the fraternity can get away after committing a crime like sexual harassment,” Parul said in an interaction with media persons.
Parul has been working in the south Indian film industry for quite some time and has received many awards for her Kannada films.
In the Indian film industry, several actresses like Malayalam actress Parvathy, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, Nandita Das and Renuka Shahane, among many others, supported the #MeToo movement whereas actress Tanushree Dutta was one of the prominent voices to come forward with her story of sexual harassment against veteran actor Nana Patekar.
Actress Parul Yadav hails #MeToo movement as ‘positive change’ in film world:
Parul said: “This is one of such movements that has given women a voice to take stand against injustice…so that the workplace becomes more secure for all of us.”
Asked about if the actress has ever spoken to Vikas Behl, the director of “Queen” who is also accused of sexual harassment, the actress said: “When we decided to remake the film in a different language, I had spoken to him once and that’s it. He said that it would be better if I do not watch the film because that might influence me prompt me to copy the original performance, which none of us wants.”
The original film “Queen” that released in 2014, has now four versions – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. While Parul will be playing the Kannada version, Kajal Aggarwal, Tamannaah and Manjima Mohan will be in the lead role in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam versions, respectively.
The film is slated to release in 2019.
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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