Entertainment
‘Thozha’ truly a blessing for my career: Director Vamshi
Chennai: Director Vamshi P describes the experience of making forthcoming Tamil-Telugu bilingual “”, starring Akkineni Nagarjuna and Karthi in the lead, as a blessing for his career.
“The journey was memorable and the people I worked with, especially Karthi, Nagarjuna sir and Tamannaah made ‘Thozha’ truly a blessing for my career. The bonding we shared was very special and I will treasure it all my life,” Vamshi told IANS.
“Thozha”, which was simultaneously shot in Telugu as “Oopiri”, is slated for theatrical release on March 25.
An adaptation of French drama “The Intouchables”, the film has been made without tampering the soul.
“The original stayed with me for long. Although I wanted to adapt it into Telugu and Tamil, I never thought I’d make it after ‘Yevadu’, because I knew it was going to change the way I was making films,” he said, adding that “The Intouchables” is among the top 50 films on IMDB and he was not sure if he could do justice.
The film is about the bonding between a physically challenged millionaire (played by Nagarjuna) and a social disabled slumdog (played by Karthi).
“This character needed someone with aura – the kind that will convince people even if he’s bound to a wheelchair throughout the film. I knew Nagarjuna sir would be perfect, because in the back of audiences’ minds he’s a star and he will be accepted in such a role,” he said, and added that Nagarjuna, who watched the original, had no qualms of playing a wheelchair-bound character.
“He jumped at the opportunity when it was offered to him, insisting that no changes were made just to please him or the audience. I was happy when I heard that because this is what most directors strive for when they work with stars,” he added.
Popular Tamil star Karthi plays Nagarjuna’s caretaker in the film, which was never planned to be made as a bilingual, but with the inclusion of Karthi, it just paved way and things fell in place.
“Karthi wasn’t sure how we were going to adapt a French film. But when I narrated what I had in mind, and how we were going to make suitable changes, he was more than excited to be part of the project,” said Vamshi, who didn’t find working with two stars challenging.
“Both Nagarjuna and Karthi are very simple people. Their nature is such that they can easily bond with everybody. It absolutely didn’t take time for us to bond and work, and the magic will reflect on screen. They bonded as two characters,” he said.
Elaborating on their bond, Vamshi said, “They would cheer me up whenever I had issues with something on the sets. For the Tamil version, Karthi almost doubled up as an assistant director. They took bonding to a whole new level.”
“Thozha” celebrates life and friendship, and Vamshi, on a concluding note, said, “I found friends for life in Karthi and Nagarjuna sir”.
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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