Entertainment
‘Manto’ may release by mid-2018: Nandita Das
Mumbai, Oct 13 (IANS) Actress-filmmaker Nandita Das, who has completed the shoot of her upcoming directorial “Manto” on the life of celebrated writer Saadat Hasan Manto, has said the film will be in theatres by the middle of next year.
Nandita attended the opening ceremony of the Jio MAMI 19th Mumbai Film Festival here on Thursday, and was asked if she is happy with whatever she has shot for “Manto”.
“If you ask as a director how happy you are after shooting the film, then it’s a tricky one. But I just know that it can’t get any worse. It can only get better when you are in post-production,” she said.
Film editing is her favourite part of the filmmaking journey.
“All the mistakes you have done while shooting, now you can sort of try to make it better.
“It’s been an incredible journey. A lot of credible people have been a part of it. I think I am fortunate enough to work with a great cast and crew. Hopefully, by mid next year, it should be in theatres,” added Nandita.
Sharing her working experience with actors Nawazuddin Siiddiqui and Rasika Dugal, she said: “Both of them are wonderful. Honestly, both are very accomplished actors and wonderful human beings. When you spend so much time with actors, you also want to work with good people.
“So, I feel fortunate that they have fully dedicated themselves and they are real troopers.”
The film is produced by Sameer Dixit and distributed by HP studios and Viacom18 Motion Pictures.
–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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