Entertainment
‘Kadvi Hawa’: A timely warning about global warming (Movie Review, Rating ****)
By Subhash K Jha
Film: ‘Kadvi Hawa’; Director: Nila Madhab Panda; Starring: Sanjay Mishra, Ranvir Shorey, Tillotama Shome; Rating: ****
Look at what we’ve done to Mother Earth. She is no longer Mother, she is Muddle Earth heading towards Murder Earth. In director Nila Madhab Panda’s new work aptly entitled “Kadwi Hawa”, the bitter truth of ecological plunder, is wrapped in a parable about a blind restless patriarch played by Sanjay Mishra who wanders the merciless hinterland of Mahua.
Mahua and its parched dry energy-sapping water-less landscape could be in any part of the world where the water-level has fallen to almost zero, so much so that at school a little boy says there are only two seasons in his village — hot and cold.
Panda’s cameraperson Ramanuj Dutta captures the dry wasteland of a civilisation on the brink of extinction. There is a feeling of parched dread in the way the landscape is captured. And the skilfully selfeffacing Sanjay Mishra blends into the arid milieu as though born into it.
Mishra’s performance, as well as the milieu captured on camera, strike not a single false note.
For all that Mishra cares, the camera may not be trained on him at all. He doesn’t act for the camera. Come to think of it, he doesn’t act for anybody.
The same level of commitment is evident in Ranvir Shorey’s performance. He is a loan collector, the laconic family man from Orissa who is given the dirty job of recouping loan money from impoverished farmers.
The bond that grows between Mishra and Shorey is based on inequality. They both are seen as victims in a society that shames its lowest denominator only because they’ve nothing to lose.
Shorey playing Gunu Babu brings bouts of good natured smiles to a milieu that ekes out its existence from the innards of misery.
The very capable Tollotama Shome puts in a credible performance as Hedu’s (Mishra) caring daughter-in-law.
But the film and its moistureless milieu is owned by Mishra. Watch him caress the parched ground in a gesture of unmitigated grief towards the end of the film.
“Kadvi Hawa” is a timely relevant warning for mankind to stop being unkind to Earth.
Mishra in his skimpy dhoti epitomizes the grievous isolation of an individual who is way too proud to take help, financial or otherwise, from any institution or individual.
Standing stooped in his pride, Mishra proves himself quite the calendar boy for abject poverty. This film must not be missed by any global citizen.
If you insist on watching “Justice League” this week you mustn’t regret having missed out one of the most thought-provoking and exhausting and yet finally exceedingly rewarding film.
–IANS
skj/nv/in
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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