Connect with us

Top News

Producer hopes Indian government uses Oscar winner ‘Period…’ to educate masses

Published

on

By Radhika Bhirani
New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) An Oscar victory is a definite reason to celebrate for the makers of “Period. End of Sentence” — an Indian-set film on menstruation — but it would be a “dream come true” if the government takes it to the grassroot level via educational programmes to schools and colleges.

“After the Oscar win, I’d love the Education Ministry to get involved and take this film from school to school, college to college and have an educational programme… That would be a dream come true, and that is when a shift or change will happen,” producer Guneet Monga told IANS in an interview from Los Angeles.

“I think we must try and make that happen… If not now, then when,” asked Monga, who also became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year.

Would she come back and speak to officials?

“Yeah, I’d love to… I will have to navigate that,” Monga said.

The film’s Oscar win has already caught the attention of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has acknowledged its effort to spotlight Hapur’s ‘pad women’, who have gradually learnt to break the stereotype about menstruation. Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi is glad the film talks about how a “period should end a sentence, not a girl’s education”.

In the opening scenes of the 26-minute Netflix film, which won the Best Documentary Short at the 91st Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, young girls giggle away, and older ones aver “sharam aati hai (it’s embarrassing)” at the mention of “period”. The scenes show just the grassroot issue around menstrual health that its makers — and several others — hope to weed out from the society.

Another attempt to make the discussion around menstrual health mainstream was Akshay Kumar’s “Pad Man”, inspired by the life of India’s real life ‘Pad Man’ Arunachalam Muraganathan, who also features in “Period…”

Akshay, his wife Twinkle Khanna as well as a stream of celebrities including Priyanka Chopra have come out in support of the film’s Oscar win.

“I’d love all the young actresses Janhvi Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, Bhumi Pednekar to champion this film, talk about it, share it, show it, screen it… If we don’t celebrate our own country right now, when will we,” asked Monga, who has earlier backed films like “Masaan” and “The Lunchbox” under her banner Sikhya Entertainment.

Directed by award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi, the film is created by The Pad Project, an organisation established by an inspired group of students at the Oakwood School in Los Angeles and their teacher, Melissa Berton, with help from Gauri Chaudhary from Action India.

It follows girls and women in Hapur and their experience with the installation of a pad machine in their village, making them

For Mandakini Kakar, who worked on ground in Hapur to bring out alive the stories of reluctant women, there’s a world of difference in the village which she visited two years ago and just 15 days ago.

Sitting in a room in Los Angeles at 2.30 a.m. and reflecting on the Oscar victory, Kakar told IANS: “The change has been phenomenal. Those girls there now not only aware about the topic, they are using the pads, they are spreading awareness, they are feeling economically empowered, and they are not afraid anymore.”

(Radhika Bhirani can be contacted at radhika.b@ians.in)

–IANS
rb/bg

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

Published

on

By

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.

CasinoDays India

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.

 

Content provided by Adverloom

Continue Reading

Trending