Entertainment
Festival films are celebration of artistic excellence: Sanjay Suri
Mumbai:Films that are screened at multiple festivals are a celebration of artistic excellence, says actor-producer Sanjay Suri, whose new project “Chauranga” has been lauded at film galas in the country as well as abroad.
“Chauranga” is releasing in theatres on Friday.
The movie, directed by debutant Bikas Ranjan Mishra, won the Golden Gateway of India Award for Best Film (India Gold 2014) at the 16th Mumbai Film Festival, and was also lauded at the 13th Indian Film Festival Of Los Angeles.
Sanjay, who has himself starred in offbeat movies in the past, says there has to be a shift in mentality towards festival films.
“Few people feel that ‘It’s a festival film, so let’s not watch it’. But, a festival film is a celebration of artistic excellence. Festival films are an eye into another world of cinema… these films take you to a different world. The mature audience wants to see such films,” the actor, who has produced “Chauranga” with Onir, said.
He says that while these films “entertain in a different way”, it is not proven that “if a film goes to festival, it will work or it will not work”.
“But if you get appreciation, the film gets a good start and its journey begins,” added the 44-year-old.
“Chauranga”, which stars Sanjay, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Anshuman Jha in key roles, speaks about the violence of class oppression that continues to exist in rural India.
The actor says he himself has been a huge victim of discrimination.
Asked if he has ever faced any discrimination in his life, Sanjay said: “I am a huge victim of discrimination. I am from Kashmir and my father was killed there because we are Hindu. So, I have faced that discrimination, but still I am very secular. In the film ‘Firaaq’, I played a Muslim character.
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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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