Entertainment
‘Rudramadevi’: Lengthy but interesting period drama
Film: “Rudramadevi”; Cast: Anushka Shetty, Allu Arjun, Rana Daggubati, Vikramjeet Virk, Krishnam Raju, Prakash Raj, Suman, Adithya Menon, Brahmanandam, Nithya Menen; Director: Gunashekar; Rating: ***
Director Gunashekar’s “Rudramadevi” is the story of the brave warrior empress, Rudramadevi’ of the Kakatiya Dynasty, who ruled from Orugallu, now known as Warangal in Telegana State, circa 1259- 1289. A prominent revolutionary ruler of the dynasty, she was known for her bravery and administrative skills.
Interestingly, her tale is narrated by the renowned trader and traveller, Marco Polo, who reminisces to the Italians how he had witnessed Rudramadevi’s coronation, thus offering a solution to his monarch.
The story dates back to 1234, fearing that his ministers, citizens and other kings won’t accept a girl as his successor, Emperor Ganapatideva (Krishnam Raju) on the advice of his Prime Minister, Shivadeviah (Prakash Raj) is forced to officially introduce his newly born daughter as a son, “Rudradeva”, during the naming ceremony, so that she could succeed him.
Brought up as a boy in a secret place in a remote forest, Rudradeva is groomed for military exploits and statecraft. She returns to Oragallu at the age of 14, where soon she befriends, two young princes, Gona Ganna of the Reddy clan and Veerabhadra of the Chalukya clan.
But their friendship is short-lived due to internal politics and personal issues that includes, Rudradeva’s sexuality. On learning the purpose of her mission, Rudradeva decides to sacrifice her life, till she realises that her turmoil is no secret.
Anushka Shetty as Rudramadevi, with an amour as her shield to hide her sexuality flits from one gender to the next with the ease of a seasoned artist. But unfortunately her stark transformation, especially her skin tone and demeanour are unconvincing.
Rana Daggubati as Veerabhadra, Rudramadevi’s best friend and later lover is charming. Similarly, with limited screen time, Allu Arjun as the enigmatic and rebellious, Gona Ganna Reddy, in stark black outfit is impressive.
The rest of the supporting cast, dressed in royal finery or in simplistic attire, as villagers are strikingly noteworthy.
While, Director Gunashekar takes a few cinematic and creative liberties in presenting this tale, he ensures the film is technically sound.
Mounted on an epic scale the film is visually imposing with; elaborate sets, life-like battle scenes, colourful costumes and well-choreographed songs.
In the Hindi version, Ilayaraja’s music has a mixed reaction. The song with the lyrics, “Naina, naina tu hai mera sapna,” stands out in the narration.
The computer generated images with 3D effects, though tacky in some places, merge seamlessly with cinematographer Ajaya Vincent’s frames. But overall, it delivers an ostentatious comic book effect.
While the first half of the film is interesting, the second half of the narration drags. It is the verbose exposition coupled with; the never ending battles scenes, numerous characters with odd sounding names and poorly synchronised dubbing, that weighs the film down.
Overall, the film gives a fair insight into this historical biopic.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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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