Entertainment
Varun gives fans first look into ‘October’ on V-Day
Mumbai, Feb 14 (IANS) Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan shared the first look of his upcoming film “October” on digital platforms especially for his fans on Valentine’s Day. He says the movie has helped him grow creatively.
Varun launched a 33-second teaser of the movie on Wednesday.
This is the first time Varun has collaborated with Shoojit Sircar and is playing a very different character that he hopes is image-changing.
Varun told IANS: “Shooting this film is a life-changing experience for me as an actor and as an individual. At times, success makes us complacent and that was happening with me. Whether it is ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ or ‘Judwaa 2′, whatever I have done is commercially successful.
“So, as an actor I was earning money, popularity and success, but not growing creatively. There was stagnancy. Thankfully, Shoojitda came to my life at a right time because among all these commercial films, this is one film that has challenged me the most.
“As a director, what he expected me to do was difficult for me and that is when I started understanding the deeper side of acting and thought if I would be able to pull it off.”
Sircar told IANS: “I think it is really brave of Varun to take up the challenge as an actor because once you are successful in a certain genre, you tend to continue on that. But for filmmakers like me, I need participation from actors like him to experiment because I always want to make an experimental film, in terms of subject and for its execution. I need brave actors.”
Asked about what made him choose Varun, Shoojit said: “I have always changed images of actors whether it is Deepika (Deepika Padukone), Mr Bachchan (Amitabh Bachchan), John Abraham… So when it comes to Varun, we instantly connected and after our meeting, I had no doubt that I found the right cast of the film.”
The film celebrates love, nature and the season autumn throughout the narration. According to Varun, shooting this film brought him close to nature, and that impacted his performance in a positive way.
“The shooting experience was very different because it brought me close to nature. The film has been shot in all the real locations that were written in the script. Therefore, we majorly shot outdoors. I rode a bike at midnight, in the wee hours in places like Dwarka in Delhi, just to get the shots right.
“When in Manali, we were shooting under the open sky… I felt nature and its beauty so closely. Yes, this film has impacted me and how,” said Varun.
So, is it a love story or a longing for love?
“Well, we cannot unveil much more than what people can see in the teaser, but yes I can say that it is a love story where I am sharing my idea of love. Like the way I explored the bonding between father and daughter in ‘Piku’, in this one, I am sharing my thought on love,” Sircar said.
Produced by Ronnie Lahiri and Sheel Kumar, “October” also features Banita Sandhu. It will release on April 13.
–IANS
aru/rb/bg
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
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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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