Entertainment
Directing a musical was exciting: James Vasanthan
Chennai: Composer-turned-filmmaker James Vasanthan says directing Tamil musical “Vaanavil Vaazhkai”, slated for release on Friday, was exciting but not challenging, as music happens to be his first love.
“It has always been my dream to score music for a musical. But nobody was interested in making a musical. So I decided to write my own story, compose music and direct a musical. I found the whole experience extremely exciting,” Vasanthan told.
“I agree the process was time-consuming but it was still exciting. In a regular film, you have about five songs, but there are 17 songs in this film. To write, compose, record, audition actors and finally shoot it, was an invigorating experience,” he said.
“Vaanavil Vaazhkai” marks the directorial debut of Vasanthan, but he says making a musical was no different than composing music for any film.
“I didn’t feel like I was directing a film. Since this is a musical, I felt like I was composing music for a normal film. The only difference is that you can’t place songs wherever you feel like in a musical because most of the story is narrated through songs,” he said.
For Vasanthan, the whole filmmaking process was a “musical experience”, and he clarified that the film’s treatment is far different from a Broadway musical.
“I’ve tried to strike a balance between a musical and a light-hearted campus entertainer. It’s about rivalry occurring among college students taking part in inter-collegiate cultural fests. Most of the incidents are inspired from campus stories,” he added.
The film features an ensemble cast of newcomers, who are around 20 years of age.
“When you’re making a musical, the actors in it need to play some instruments. When I finished writing, I didn’t search for actors. I looked for young musicians who could also act,” he said.
“I could’ve cast popular playback singers but most of them were little older than the characters I had written. And that’s precisely why I chose newcomers, mostly college students, with good knowledge about music,” he added.
He said the shooting environment was mostly vibrant with jamming sessions. He even casually shot a few rehearsal gigs and included it in the film.
Vasanthan wants audiences to watch the film with no expectations and enjoy some great music.
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
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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.
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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