Entertainment
Maratha Mandir brings down curtains on DDLJ after 20 years
Mumbai: The romantic moments between actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, portrayal of a strict father, revelry around Indian wedding and a fun train journey in “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (DDLJ) will be missed by moviegoers as the iconic movie made its final curtain call Thursday at famous Maratha Mandir here – after two decades.
Manoj Desai, owner of G7 Multiples and Gaiety Galaxy and the managing director of Maratha Mandir told: “Yes, it’s true that we have pulled down the show. Today (Thursday) morning show was the last show of DDLJ at Maratha Mandir.”
“The morning show which was the last show of DDLJ had an audience of 210,” he added.
The film, which won 10 Filmfare Awards, including best film, best actor, best actress and best director at the 1996 edition of the ceremony, had been running uninterrupted at this single-theatre cinema hall at its usual playing time slot of 11:30 am.
The film, which was first screened at Maratha Mandir in October 1995, was undergoing its 20th year of uninterrupted run at the iconic cinema hall. It also holds the record of the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema.
When asked about the reason behind closing of the shows of the film, he said: “Earlier we had lots of audience to watch this film that included people from abroad. Now there is hardly any audience coming in.
“We have 1105 seats in one screen and out of which hardly 100 to 200 seats used to get occupied so it doesn’t make sense to run it any longer.”
The normal tickets cost of this film was Rs. 20, Rs. 17 and Rs. 15 at the hall, drastically lower than what the multiplexes charge.
However he says now the other fresh films will get extra screens.
“Earlier because of DDLJ the other films does not used to get all the screens now it will be a benefit for fresh films which now can occupy the shows which was earlier occupied by DDLJ,” said Desai.
Produced by the late Yash Chopra, the film marked Aditya Chopra’s debut as a director.
The film was termed as a refreshing change for cinema lovers with all ingredients of a Bollywood masala potboiler — love, romance, comedy, action, melodrama, thrills, songs and dance — put together cohesively to tell a story of the victory of true love.
DDLJ has a simple story — a fun loving London-bred Punjabi boy Raj (Shah Rukh) meets an NRI simpleton Simran (Kajol) during an European holiday. Love blossoms between them, but winning over the girl’s conservative family is not a cakewalk for the hero, who then makes every effort to take his ‘dulhania’ (bride) with him.
The film also featured Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal, Anupam Kher and Mandira Bedi.
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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