Entertainment
Was taken on for ‘Aiyaari’ without audition: Pooja Chopra (Lead)
Mumbai, Feb 12 (IANS) Actress Pooja Chopra, who features in Neeraj Pandey’s “Aiyaari”, says it was a huge compliment for her when the filmmaker got her on board for the movie without an audition.
Pooja was earlier a part of Pandey’s short film “Ouch”.
“I think it is a huge compliment that he showed faith in me and trusted me to play such a strong character. When we were doing workshops, he praised me for my work. But the fact that he called me for his next immediate film without an audition, that’s a huge compliment,” she said.
Was there performance pressure when working with a filmmaker like Pandey?
“I was very happy because I felt the pressure during ‘Ouch’ and he had seen my potential and talent at that time. I just didn’t want to disappoint him and his fate in me. And I am glad to have had the chance to work with him again.”
Pooja, who debuted in Bollywood with “Commando”, was asked how were the characters of “Aiyaari” and “Commando” different.
She said: “My character in ‘Commando’ was that of the girl next door. She was just a normal girl. There was no need to transform myself.
“But here, Maya Semwal exhibits no girly traits. She is a man among men. Both the characters are very diverse. In fact, the character I played in the short film ‘Ouch’, is also completely different.
“In ‘Ouch’, I am a lady who has an extramarital affair. I am glad I got to play three different roles and they were all challenging in their own way.”
On what makes being a part of “Aiyaari” special, the former Miss India said: “‘Aiyaari’ is very special because it is with a director I always wanted to work with, which is a very rare chance, especially for a girl to get a chance to play such a strong performance-oriented character is not easy.”
The movie features Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee as army officers in a storyline that brings corruption within the system to the forefront.
The film also features Rakul Preet Singh, Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher. It will release on Friday.
–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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