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‘Lingaa’ – The hero with a thousand faces

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Film: “Lingaa”; Cast: Rajinikanth, Sonakshi Sinha, Anushka Shetty, K. Vishwanath, Jagapathi Babu, Vijayakumar, Radha Ravi, Santhanam, Karunakaran and Dev Gill; Director: K.S. Ravi Kumar; Rating: ***

In one of the scenes in “Lingaa”, Rajinikanth is seen reading Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with A Thousand Faces’. The camera zooms in on the book’s title from different angles to emphasise that it was included for a very strong reason. According to director Ravi Kumar, his hero is Rajinikanth, and his thousand faces are that of a collector, a king, a civil engineer, a patriot, a socially responsible citizen, a leader, a communist, and finally, a common man. Rajini proves he could be anybody on screen. He could go from a king to a pauper in a scene and audiences won’t mind it because he’s the hero with a thousand faces.

All that you want in a Rajinikanth film is packed in abundance in “Lingaa”, which doesn’t disappoint his legions of fans. From his signature walk to bizarre stunts to philosophical touch in dialogues to his reluctance towards politics but interest in serving people — every scene illuminates with Rajini’s presence. In another scene, Rajinikanth jumps off a mountain on his sports bike to land on a hot air balloon (reminds you of the scene from Jackie Chan’s “Armour of God”). Any other actor in his shoes would’ve been subjected to ridicule and mockery.

“Lingaa” is a social period drama that unfolds in the pre-independence era. It follows the story of Raja Lingeshwaran (Rajinikanth), a collector during the British regime, who becomes instrumental in the construction of a dam in a village called Solaiyur. In the process, he loses everything but not his self respect and will power. When a group of villagers ask Lingeshwaran why he threw away a king’s life for the villagers, he replies that a person with a happy heart will remain happy forever.

The film is filled with such quintessential Rajinikanth dialogues, included in the story at the right junctures to give his fans an adequate dose of inspiration along with entertainment.

It’s always advisable to watch a Rajinikanth film with least expectations and that’s very much applicable to “Lingaa” as well. While it’s wonderful to see the superstar do what he’s best at in a live action film (after the disastrous “Kochadaiiyaan”), the wafer thin story of “Lingaa” is a letdown. The story gives us a flashback of several of Rajini’s own films and the most evident of all is “Sivaji”.

“Lingaa”, which released on the superstar’s 64th birthday, desperately tries to hide his age, and it succeeds at that. Rajini hasn’t looked so dashing in ages, and the swagger with which he carries his role, is a treat to watch. One of the best examples is the age-defying stunt sequence (choreographed by Lee Whittaker) atop a moving train. If you’re wondering how could he possibly pull it off (even with the help of VFX), you should remember it’s also one of his thousand faces.

If there’s one thing that really bothers in “Lingaa”, it is its running time. Agreed it’s a Rajinikanth film and that it comes probably once in a few years, so it shouldn’t be a problem to sit through three hours. But it seriously isn’t easy after getting used to shorter Tamil films in the last few months. Another area of concern is A.R Rahman’s music, which doesn’t quite touch the bar he had set with his previous collaborations with the superstar.

Both Sonakshi and Anushka don’t have much to contribute. The former has a lengthier role, yet there isn’t much scope for performance.

“Lingaa” gives Rajinikanth a ticket to entertain his fans and he doesn’t let them down.

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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

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.

CasinoDays India

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.

 

CasinoDays India

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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