Entertainment
‘Qaidi Band’: Tugs at the right chords (IANS Review, Rating: ***)
By Troy Ribeiro
Film: “Qaidi Band”; Director: Habib Faisal; Cast: Aadar Jain, Anya Singh, Mikhail Yawalkar, Anna Ador, Cyndy Khojol, Peter Muxka Manuel, Prince Parvinder Singh, Sachin Pilgaonkar and Ram Kapoor; Rating: ***
Director Habib Faisal’s “Qaidi Band”, inspired by real life events, is a sugar-coated tale.
Citing the case of Machal Lalung, the longest arrested undertrial, the film revolves around a group of young individuals who are arrested for various crimes. Due to lack of funds and family support, they are left to rot behind bars.
By happenstance, the Superintendent of the prison Mr. Dhulia (Sachin Pilgaonkar) — to entertain a politician during his visit to the prison — orders his prisoners to form a band. After duly auditioning, a group of seven — three girls and four guys: Bindu, Tatyana, Sange along with Sanju, Rufi, Maskeen and Ogu — are selected to perform.
On the eventual day, the attending media, enamoured by the group’s performance before the politician, broadcasts the show. And soon, their song, “I’m India”, grabs the attention of the masses. They become a phenomenon.
How this group then uses their popularity to gain freedom forms the crux of the tale.
The plot is simple, straight-forward and by mid-point predictable. Nevertheless, its enduring appeal stands on three sturdy legs.
Firstly, it captures the nasty atrocities meted out to the undertrials in a no-nonsense and unpretentious manner. Also, the camera work along with the fine production values is noteworthy. The film has the confidence and a sense of purpose that warms the hardest heart.
Its second strength lies in the performances of the cast. The seven protagonists may not be conventional heroes. But their portrayal of their characters is realistic and believable. The depth they bring to what could have been a one-dimensional character is impressive.
Anya Singh and Aadar Jain wow us as Bindu and Sanju with their sincerity. Though Aadar has a strong resemblance to his cousin Ranbir Kapoor, he does manage to leave an imprint with his histrionics.
Ana Ador sways us as Tatyana with her dancing and sense of rhythm. Cyndy Khojol impresses us as Sange with her resolute strength and defiance.
Mikhail Yawalkar, Peter Muxha Manuel and Prince Parvinder Singh as Rufi, Ogu and Maskeen are charming. Their demeanour and personality suits their character and each one of them portrays their role convincingly.
Sachin Pilgaonkar, as the dictatorial Superintendent of Prisons, is refreshingly honest. He makes you cringe and hate him when he tries to extract information from the family of the undertrials or tortures those who are captured after escaping from the clutches of the police.
Ram Kapoor as an eminent lawyer, Mr. Vachchani, lacks the persona and is the only odd one among the cast.
And finally, of course, there are the songs — the lyrics are strongly worded and magnificently structured. And they seamlessly integrate with the narrative.
What is missing in the plot are scenes that emotionally elevate the tempo of the narrative. Though it has its fair share of melodrama, the exuberance needed for a musical is missing. Also the song at the climax is a super let-down. But overall, the film works as an expressive drama.
–IANS
troy/rb/dg
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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