Entertainment
‘Bajirao Mastani’ wins big at TOIFA technical awards
Dubai:Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus “Bajirao Mastani” starring Bollywood’s live wire Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra roped in maximum awards in technical categories at the second edition of the Times Of India Film Awards (TOIFA) here.
The technical awards, which saw as many as 400 guests, were announced on Thursday at a night full of excitement and glamour.
“Bajirao Masatani” bagged as many as three awards in the Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.
Ranveer, who made an impromptu appearance at the event, collected the Best Costume Design in place of ace designer Anju Modi, who was not present at the event.
The actor was even seen shaking a leg with the co-host of the show – Manish Paul and Huma Qureshi, on the popular number “Pinga”, which was picturised on Priyanka and Deepika, from the film.
Other than Bhansali’s directorial, superstar Salman Khan starred “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” roped in the Best Story award.
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan presented the Best Story Award, which was accepted by Kareena Kapoor on behalf of KV Vijayendra Prasad.
Shoojit Sircar’s “Piku” starring megastar Amitabh Bachchan and the “Chennai Express” actress roped in the Best Screenplay, while “Tanu Weds Manu Returns” won in the Best Dialogue category. The Best Choreography award was given to filmmaker and choreographer Remo Dspuza, which was collected by actress Parineeti Chopra, who will be co-hosting the main gala on Friday.
Some of Bollywood’s iconic names gathered for the event, held as a prelude to main TOIFA night, to be held Friday.
That’s not it!
Singers like Shweta Pandit, Aman Trika, Shalmali Kholgade and Armaan Malik mesmerised the audience by singing some of the most popular songs from Bollywood “Pareshaan”, “Hawa Hawai”, “Main hoon hero tera”, “Dil dhadakne do”, “Tukur tukur” and “’Sooraj dooba hain”.
The award gala also saw a sprinkle of fashion.
Mumbai city based designers Riyaz and Reshma Gangji showcased their designs at the event.
Actors Sooraj Pancholi and Zarine Khan as showstoppers. Sooraj was seen wearing a blue long narrow bandh gala with a shawl. While Zarine was seen sporting a royal blue lehenga with borders in cut work that has French knots, completing the look with a peach dupatta.
Asked why they chose Sooraj and Zarine as their showstoppers, Riyaz told IANS: “Sooraj because I have been design him since he was a kid and I am very excited to work with him at the red carpet.
“Zarine because I have worked with her before… very dear friend and excited to work with her. She is like fire on the ramp.”
Actress Karisma Kapoor was also seen as a stunning showstopper for designer Farhaz Manan. The actress looked dazzling in a ravishing golden gown.
Others who were seen gracing the technical award event was actor Riteish Deshmukh, Karthik Aryan, Gautam Gulati and Ronit Roy.
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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