Entertainment
Ramesh Sippy to get inaugural Raj Kapoor Award
Mumbai, Feb 12 (IANS) Veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy, who directed the classic blockbuster “Sholay” and tele-serial “Buniyaad”, would be conferred the first ‘Raj Kapoor Award for Excellence in Cinema’, an official said here on Monday.
Instituted by the Asian Centre for Entertainment Education (ACEE) with various international organisations like World Bank, UNICEF, USC Annenberg Normal Lear Cenre, Hollywood Health and Society, Cinepolis Foundation and CMS, the ‘Raj Kapoor Trophy’ will be unveiled here on Wednesday.
“The global awards are being launched in memory of Raj Kapoor, the quintessential ‘Showman of Post-Independent India’, who was a rare filmmaker to have placed mainstream and popular entertainment which he created in contemporary social contexts,” said ACEE Co-Founder Vinta Nanda.
Raj Kapoor was making films from virtually the official birth of India onwards, when the violence of Partition marked the translation from British rule to democracy, and even without a close reading of history, it is clear that undercurrents in his work often measured the changes, both economic and social, in Indian society, she explained.
Sippy, 71, will receive the first Raj Kapoor Award for Excellence in Cinema at the two-day ‘Elevate 2K18’ bi-annual conclave of ACEE’s programme, The Third Eye in Mumbai, she added.
Honoured with a Padma Shri, Sippy has attained legendary status with his memorable film “Sholay” (1975) and later the popular serial on Doordarshan, “Buniyaad” (1987), based on the Partition of India.
Veteran actors and sons of Raj Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor, will take part in a discussion on ‘The Unparalleled Social Commentator, The Showman Raj Kapoor’, which will be moderated by journalist Shekhar Gupta.
Besides the launch of the global award and trophy at the ‘Elevate 2K18’, Nanda said the team behind the latest Bollywood release “Pad Man”, including producer Twinkle Khanna and director R. Balki shall be felicitated at the conclave.
The first trailer of the upcoming film, “102 Not Out” directed by Umesh Shukla of “OMG – Oh My God!” fame – which brings together industry veterans Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor together on screen after a 25 year gap – shall be released at the conclave.
–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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