Entertainment
What’s wrong in watching cheap, vulgar films, asks Vikram Bhatt
New Delhi : He makes erotic thrillers unabashedly and feels the censor board in India has assumed the responsibility of “protecting the audience’s taste”, something which is not its job.
Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt, whose new film “Love Games” delves upon the behind-the-closed-doors subject of partner sharing, asks when the audience is willing to watch “vulgar” films, why should others decide whether it’s worth watching or not.
Bhatt is clearly not happy with how the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) members have been chopping off scenes, muting words and even banning movies in the Indian film industry. He feels the censor board has not evolved over the years.
“It (censor board) is worse now. The Congress government was much better… What’s wrong with cheap, vulgar films? Don’t I have a right to watch a vulgar film if I want to? Why are you protecting my taste?” Bhatt asked in an interview with IANS.
The director, who mixes the thriller genre with erotica and horror in his films, has asserted that a person’s choice to watch a certain film should not be affected by any outside force.
“I am a vulgar man, I want to watch vulgar films and I am willing to pay for it. Yes, put a huge disclaimer on a film saying ‘This film is vulgar’… I don’t mind that, but don’t tell me what is good or bad for me,” he added.
Asked if the censor board had been kind to his “Love Games”, based on wife swapping and swingers (couples who are in a relation and share their sexual space with either another person or a couple), Bhatt said: “Censor board is like a watchman protecting a dilapidated house where nobody lives”.
Only one word was muted from “Love Games”, which has been deemed fit only for adults to watch.
“People are on the internet, they are sourcing foreign films… I don’t know what they are protecting. What culture?” he said.
Known for movies like “Raaz”, “1920” and “Hate Story”, Bhatt agrees there is a surge in erotic thrillers in Bollywood.
But why is the genre considered distasteful in India?
“Because that’s the kind of people we are… That’s the kind of critics we have. The critics want aesthetics in everything, but what’s so unaesthetic about swinging?”
About the logic behind censoring an ‘A’ certificated film, he said: “It’s a joke. It’s not even hypocrisy. You know the cuts the censor board gave before we went to the Tribunal… they said you can’t use the word ‘f**k’ but you can say ‘f**king’ in ‘Love Games’. So, what the censor board was telling me was that the verb f**k is not allowed, but the adjective of the word is allowed.”
He also finds it amusing that the word “bitch” can apparently be used only once in a film.
“When I am applying for an adult certificate, is the adult of this country not mature enough to hear the word bitch more than once in a film? It is a joke,” he added, stressing that “Love Games” deals with a subject which totally exists in Indian society.
“It is based on things I have seen. These are things that I have seen in my life… up, close and personal,” he said.
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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