Entertainment
Cinema reduced to cash trap industry: Subhash Ghai
New Delhi: Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, whose repertoire is studded with films like “Karz”, “Ram Lakhan”, “Khalnayak” and “Pardes”, believes commercialisation has nowadays made the Indian cinema world a cash trap — a mode for brand promotions.
His last few movies — “Yuvvraaj”, “Kaanchi: The Unbreakable” and “Black & White” — failed to spin the magic the ‘Showman’ was known for in the 1980s and 1990s.
“The (Indian) cinema has been reduced to a cash trap industry. Earlier, it was a creative industry, but now more of commercialisation has entered in it. Now actors don’t talk about a particular scene or performance, they talk about the collection,” Ghai told.
Also concerned by the rising pay cheques reserved for the A-listers, Ghai said: “Film corporate companies have faced big losses in recent years. The only ones who have gained are the stars and the marketing companies.
“Producers should try and make films having a good story and director rather than giving out half of the budget to the stars. I used to pay only 10 percent of my film’s budget to the stars… But now, stars are more interested in endorsing products rather than acting in a film,” added the filmmaker, who takes pride in the fact that “stars used to run after me” during his prime.
The 70-year-old, who was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Weekend and Awards in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, earlier this month, is even against the idea of actors turning producers as he feels it makes the director’s job more difficult.
“Directors have become producers because they don’t want any other person to interfere in their credibility. But when actors become producers, they try to dominate the director. Nowadays, the corporate people are asking every actor to become a producer. Apart from three to four directors like Rajkumar Hirani and Rohit Shetty, rest all are obligant,” he said.
Having started his directorial career with the 1976 film “Kalicharan”, Ghai considers himself “blessed” to have stayed in the industry for such a long time. He says the 1980s were the best time of his almost four-decade-long journey.
“I was really flying high in the 1980s as most of my films did well at the box office. Since ‘Kalicharan’, I made 19 films in all, out of which 14 were blockbusters. From 1975 to 2005, it was the best era of my life which spanned for 30 years,” said Ghai, whose two 1980s hit films “Karz” and “Hero” were screened on Zee Cinema some time ago.
“I feel blessed that I’m one of those achievers who stood in the industry for four decades. But now I make films on my own terms and happiness, not under anybody’s pressure. I ran constantly on a treadmill for 30 years. So, I’m a happy and peaceful person today,” added Ghai, who also has a film institute in Mumbai.
Enjoying the slow pace on the film direction front, he said: “I used to take six months for making a film prior to 2005, but after that I took four years’ gap while directing a film. It’s just that you feel a lot more responsible and try to do something for the upcoming generation and the country.”
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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