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India’s ‘Newton’ out of Oscar race, team still proud (Lead)

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Los Angeles/Mumbai, Dec 15 (IANS) India’s official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars 2018, “Newton”, is out of the race for the honour. But the movie’s team is feeling far from defeated.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday announced that nine features out of 92 will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 90th Academy Awards, according to the official website of the Oscars.

“Newton”, directed by Amit V. Masurkar and starring the stellar Rajkummar Rao in a story set against the backdrop of elections in the world’s largest democracy, was not a part of it.

Masurkar said: “The Foreign Film Category is like the Olympics. We are competing with the best in the world, so it’s extremely tough. The response from Academy members to ‘Newton’ was very positive and we are grateful to everyone who supported us on this journey.

“The experience has enriched us and has encouraged me to push my limits each time I make a new film.”

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who has always lent unrelenting support his blue-eyed boy Rajkummar and “Newton” — even when it was caught in a plagiarism row, also said that missing the Oscar bus changes nothing for this film’s credentials.

Mehta, claimed he was trolled after “Newton” was ousted from the competition, tweeted: “Oscars or no Oscars, it remains one of the finest films made in our country in a long time.”

When the film was chosen as India’s Oscar entry by the Film Federation of India, there was buzz that it was inspired by a 2001 Iranian movie titled “Secret Ballot”.

At that time, Mehta, who has worked closely with Rajkummar on award-winning films like “Shahid” and “CityLights”, had spoken out in favour of the “Newton” team.

Mehta’s latest Twitter post on Friday also found support from filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who was at the forefront of slamming the plagiarism claims against the film’s makers. He had contacted “Secret Ballot” producer Marco Mueller to take his feedback on the similarities.

“There is not even a hint of plagiarisation,” Mueller had told him.

The shortlisted films for the Foreign Language Film category for Oscars this time include: “A Fantastic Woman” (Chile), “In the Fade” (Germany), “On Body and Soul” (Hungary), “Foxtrot” (Israel), “The Insult” (Lebanon), “Loveless” (Russia), “Felicite” (Senegal), “The Wound” (South Africa) and “The Square” (Sweden).

Final nominations for all categories of the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on January 23. The Oscars ceremony will be held on March 4 at the Dolby Theatre here.

So far, “Mother India”, “Salaam Bombay!” and “Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India” are the only Indian films that made it to the top five in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards, but none have won the honour.

–IANS
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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

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.

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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.

 

CasinoDays India

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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