Entertainment
‘Sarbjit’: Immerses You Emotionally
Lucknow:Film: “Sarbjit”, Director: Omung Kumar; Cast: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Randeep Hooda, Richa Chadda, Darshan Kumaar, Ankita Shirvastav; Rating: *** 1/2 (3 and a half stars)
“Sarbjit” is a biopic of Sarabjit Singh Aitwal, a farmer from Punjab’s Bhikhiwind, arrested in Pakistan for crossing the border on August 28, 1990. But in reality, it is the 23-year-old journey of his sister, Dalbir Kaur, depicting her trials and tribulations in the course of her endeavour to bring back, from Pakistan, her brother, who is convicted for a series of bomb blasts and charges of terrorism.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Dalbir Kaur puts her heart and soul into her character. She delivers a fairly robust performance and evokes sympathy, not merely on the strength of her performance, but because of the powerful character she depicts. Unfortunately, even after modulating her voice and emulating the mannerisms of a Punjabi, by no stretch of imagination, can she pass of as a “Sikhni” one is made to believe she is.
Randeep Hooda as Sarbjit steals the show. His transition, physically and mentally from a happy-go-lucky man to an anguished imprisoned soul, is palpable.
Richa Chadda, in a fairly restrained manner, manages to make her presence felt as Sarbjit’s wife Sukhpreet, whom he fondly called “Sukhia. So does Darshan Kumaar as Owais Sheikh, Sarbjit’s lawyer in Pakistan. The rest of the cast too is natural and convincing.
Director Omang Kumar who had earlier delivered “Mary Kom”, has handled the film fairly adroitly. Scripted in a non-linear fashion, the film starts off on an uneven note and gradually as the narration progresses, it settles on an even keel to unravel the compelling drama.
By avoiding the controversies that surround Dalbir Kaur and the existence of her other siblings, scriptwriters Utkarshini Vashishtha and Rajesh Beri’s screenplay skilfully manoeuvres the narration, to stir a sense of patriotism among the audience.
The film is emotionally draining. It brings tears to your eyes. The dialogues are everyday speech, but there are instances when the lines are dramatic and uplift the scenes. This is obvious in the scene where Sarbjit speaks to his lawyer Owais in the prison.
Some of the scenes in the film, seem inspired by classics. This is particularly evident. when Sarabjit breaks down emotionally and cries, “Save me sister, save me.” This particular shot reminds you of a scene in Ritwik Gathak’s “Meghe Dake Tara”, where the heroine pleads to her brother to save her. Here the scene may not be as dramatic as in Ghatak’s film but is eventually effective.
With excellent production values, the film is well-mounted. The cinematography by Kiran Deohans is steady and remarkable. With brilliant lighting, his frames are atmospheric. With his wide-angle lenses and tight close-ups, he brilliantly captures the claustrophobic space and the fine nuances of Randeep’s haunting performance.
The sets are realistic and transition of the colour palette, is evident in the costumes of the ladies, which from bright colourful clothes gradually turn into muted hues.
The songs mesh seamlessly into the narration and the background score effectively heightens the viewing experience.
The film is evenly paced with a few lengthy and unwarranted scenes but overall, Sarbjit Aitwal’s story is worth a watch, as it touches the right emotional chord.
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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