Entertainment
Started as a model for survival : Sonu Sood
New Delhi : Actor Sonu Sood started out as a model before venturing into showbiz in 1999 with Tamil film “Kallazhagar”, and his filmography has recently been enhanced by a project with international icon Jackie Chan. Looking back at his career, Sonu says while acting was always his passion, he took up modelling only to survive in showbiz.
As a model, Sonu had participated in the Graviera Mr. India contest in 1996 but didn’t get to wear the crown. But just over 15 years later, Graviera chose him as its brand ambassador.
Is the fashion industry a platform for models to get into Bollywood?
“Yeah, it is definitely one station closer to Bollywood. I started as a model just to survive. I did not even know a single soul in this city (Mumbai). No connection in Bollywood, never knew anyone, so where to start from… So, I thought modelling (was the best option) to pay those monthly rents and daily expenses,” Sonu told IANS over phone from Mumbai.
The 43-year-old Nagpur-born actor, who is popular for his well-chiselled body and fit physique, says he had “no hardcore plans to be a model”.
“Acting has always been my passion. Modelling just happened by chance. Acting was always the first and the last target,” said the actor, a qualified engineer who has featured in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films.
With no Bollywood backing, the actor says he faced many difficulties in his initial days when he was trying his luck in the Hindi film industry.
“I faced all the difficulties in the world — from travelling in local trains to trying to get an entry into office and trying to even get an appointment to show my photographs,
all had been really tough. I knew it would be a tough jouney when I came to this city (Mumbai),” said Sonu, who has now featured in films like Salman Khan’s “Dabangg” and Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “Happy New Year”.
He said his focus on his passion helped him achieve his dreams and make his parents proud.
“I knew I had to take a step forward and come to this city and make my parents proud. I came to this city not just for my dreams, but with an ambition to make everyone proud,” he added.
It has been almost two decades since he had his first tryst with films. After working with Shah Rukh, Salman, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Akshay Kumar, Sonu has taken a huge leap into sharing screen space with legendary actor Jackie Chan in the upcoming Sino-Indian film “Kung Fu Yoga”.
“I think the journey has been good,” he reflected, and added: “Not been bad at all for an outsider… But there are still miles to go.”
And he is ready to face failure with a smile.
“Sometimes it affects you, but that keeps you moving and stronger. So, when a movie doesn’t work, you have to come out stronger. You have to just work hard for your next one and that’s what I have been doing all these years,” said Sonu, who is now gearing up for the release of “Tutak Tutak Tutiya”, with which he has turned over a new leaf as a film producer.
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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