Entertainment
Dream is to play characters that represent majority: Sobhita
Mumbai, Oct 9 (IANS) Actress Sobhita Dhulipala, best known for her performance in Anurag Kashyap’s “Raman Raghav 2.0”, says it’s her dream to play ordinary characters that represent the majority as she believes it will help her connect with the masses.
Having won over audiences and critics alike with her work in “Raman Raghav 2.0”, Sobhita says she wants her choices (of roles) to reflect who she is.
“I can’t be in a film that I wouldn’t like to watch as audience. There’s always this debate about how we need more good films but how many are willing to be part of such films,” Sobhita told IANS, on being asked if she consciously chooses roles that are not considered mainstream in Bollywood.
She said she wants to be sure of her choices.
“I can’t do the terrible mistake of thinking audiences are dumb and will accept anything I do. I want to be cautious about my choices. My dream is to play ordinary characters. I have no interest in playing a pretty girl or an NRI girl. Who are we reaching out to with such characters which are the minority,” she asked.
Sobhita wants to play roles that will reach out to masses.
“I want to play the Indian housewife, the tailor’s daughter or even a government school teacher. These are the characters that represent the majority,” she said.
Sobhita made a guest appearance in last week’s release “Chef”, starring Saif Ali Khan.
Talking about being part of the project, she said: “It was a fun experiment between two serious films. I knew it was a small part and I was needed to just shoot for two days. When I heard my part from Raja (Krishna Menon), I immediately said yes. Also, I love food and I enjoy cooking.”
One of the serious projects is Geethu Mohandas’s “Moothon”, which she describes as a very “intense and depressing film”.
“I have given it my most to the character in ‘Moothon’. It was a character that zapped me out. When I was narrated the script, I could feel chills going down my spine. It’s a very strong film and I play a part that’s feisty and how,” she added.
The other film happens to be another Saif Ali Khan-starrer “Kaalakaandi”, for which Sobhita shot for a longer period.
“It was serious because of the time I invested in the project. I started shooting for this project a month after ‘Raman Raghava’ released. As soon as I completed it, I shot for ‘Chef’ and it was followed by ‘Moothon’,” she said.
Sobhita also has Telugu film “Goodachari” in her kitty. She is currently shooting for a Hindi project in Delhi.
–IANS
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Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
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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