Entertainment
Team ‘Masaan’ makes Anurag Kashyap proud
New Delhi: The common string that ties the team of “Masaan” to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is the critically acclaimed crime drama “Gangs of Wasseypur”. Now as “Masaan” is treading towards success, Kashyap says he is proud of the whole cast for making a mark with their first outing.
The film’s lead Richa Chadha, Vicky Kaushal and debutant director Neeraj Ghaywan worked on Kashyap’s critically acclaimed “Gangs of Wasseypur”.
While Ghaywan and Vicky were assistant directors of “Gangs of Wasseypur”, Richa was one of the female leads.
“It’s good to see my brightest first-timers not wasting any time to go out there and make a brilliant first film. There is a lesson there for all of us. I’m very proud of Neeraj as a director and Vicky as actor,” Kashyap said in a statement.
There’s more. The lyricist of songs like “Womaniya” and “Kaala rey”, the IIT graduate Varun Grover has penned the story of “Masaan” and also written songs in the film, including “Mann kasturi”, which is sung by Indian Ocean band.
Besides, other people who worked on both the films are actor Pankaj Tripathi, action director Sham Kaushal, editor Nitin Baid, Karuna Dutt (assistant director) and Shrikant Desai (make-up).
The film, set in Varanasi, takes audiences to the dark side of Indian society through the lives of two women and how their life coincides at some point. There are ghats and scenic locales with the holy Ganga river in the backdrop.
The film won the Promising Future Prize and the International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) Award at the Cannes International Film Festival this year.
Other than the past alliances, Kashyap is related to “Masaan” in one more way. He is co-producing the film with his Phantom Films along with Manish Mundra (Drishyam Films) and Guneet Monga of Sikhya Entertainment.
Though “Masaan” will hit the Indian screens only on June 24, a Cannes-cut version of the movie was screened here when it opened the sixth edition of Jagran Film Festival earlier this month, and elicited a positive response.
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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