Entertainment
Bringing people in theatres more challenging now: Ranjit Tiwari
Mumbai, Sep 24 (IANS) With various avenues of entertainment, filmmakers are going through a positive change of attempting experimental storytelling, says “Lucknow Central” director Ranjit Tiwari, who feels wooing the audience to cinema halls is becoming a bigger challenge.
His own “Lucknow Central”, which released earlier this month, was based on a real life incident where five prisoners form a music band. It made for an unusual story in mainstream Bollywood.
Tiwari told IANS here: “I think the audience is ready to watch good and different stories which are a positive sign for people like us to experiment with storytelling. These days, people have ample avenues of entertainment; they are exposed to international stories on digital platforms.
“So, they have to get a solid reason to come out of their house, step into a theatre, invest money and time for a film. It has to be that good. Bringing people in theatre is much challenging now.”
Tiwari went through a lot of research work to know and unveil the world inside jail and lives of prisoners in the story of “Lucknow Central”. As the film aims to give a message of reintegration of prisoners in the mainstream society, Tiwari shared an anecdote.
“When I started working with Prahlad (ad guru Prahlad Kakkar) many years ago, there was a girl with HIV+ who used to work with us. At that time, HTV+ patients were not treated with equality and it was a challenge for them to find their space in the professional world.
“But in our office, we never did that, and that is how I as an individual realized that if we want to make a change, this is how we have to start. In the film, I tried to establish the same thought,” Tiwari said.
“Lucknow Central” features Farhan Akhtar, Diana Penty, Gippy Grewal, Rajesh Sharma, Inaamulhaq, Ronit Roy, Ravi Kishan and Deepak Dobriyal.
–IANS
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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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