Entertainment
‘Dhanak’ honoured in Poland
New Delhi: After winning two honours at Berlinale, Nagesh Kukunoor’s film “Dhanak” bagged the Best Film Award in the main category – Children’s Feature Film Competition — at the Cinema in Sneakers Children’s Festival in Poland.
Elated over the win, Kukunoor says a feel-good feeling has seeped in as the award is “a validation from another part of the world”.
“Every time we win an award, it makes us feel good as it is a validation from another part of the world. When we won an award in Berlin, it was truly gratifying that my vision has reached a good and satisfying end. It states a new beginning,” Kukunoor told.
The film, co-produced by Manish Mundra, Kukunoor and Elahe Hiptoola, was accorded with the honour on Sunday. The festival was held from June 13-21, read a statement.
Kukunoor, who couldn’t attend the festival, shared a recorded message thanking the festival authorities and the audience for honouring the film.
This is not the first international acclaim for the film. It was screened at International Film Festival Los Angeles (IFFLA) and at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Kids.
The film also clinched two awards — the Grand Prix for the Best Feature-length film and the Special Mention for the Best Feature Film by The Children’s Jury for Generation Kplus – at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival.
Kukunoor, known for movies like “Iqbal” and “Dor”, added that finding a right balance in the international circuit is crucial to take stories to foreign shores.
“It is kind of nice to balance the international festivals as well with Indian release and reaching out to wide audience,” he said.
Shot in the bylanes of a Rajasthan town, the film, which stars Hetal Gada and Krrish Chhabria in the lead roles, revolves around little girl Pari’s endeavour at getting her brother’s eyesight restored.
They set out on a journey where they come across myriad colours of life to meet superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who on a poster, promised his viewers “new eyes”.
Hiptoola was also thrilled with the win.
“So thrilled with the victory in Poland. Its amazing how good stories can cut across cultures and ages. The amazing journey with ‘Dhanak’ continues,” Hiptoola told IANS over a message.
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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