Entertainment
Nakul’s daredevil act for ‘Tamiluku En…’
Chennai: Actor Nakul, who was last seen in sports drama “Vallinam”, says he flirted with danger when he climbed a tall mobile tower while shooting for his forthcoming Tamil social thriller “Tamiluku En Ondrai Azhuthavum”.
“The mobile tower was about 40 feet tall, but it was on top of a three-storey building, and that makes the total height of about 70 feet. I was never told about this particular scene in the script, but I had to eventually do it on the day of the shoot,” Nakul.
“Initially, my director said I was required to climb only till a certain point, so I started climbing. I continued climbing until I reached the top of the tower, and then…started acting. The view from there was extremely scary. I could see the whole of Chennai,” he said.
Although Nakul admits the experience was challenging, he pulled it off confidently “for the sake of the shot”.
“Climbing the tower made of iron was extremely painful. My hands couldn’t bear the pain. I was made to wait there for hours because getting down and climbing up again was not possible. This scene required me to work on the antenna. I was familiarising myself with some tools,” he said.
He was neither facilitated by any harness nor the required gear for the climb.
“I was required to wear a t-shirt and shorts along with a pair of slippers. There was no climbing harness. I’ve done so many stunts in my career, but this one was challenging. For about half a day, I stayed on top of the tower,” he added.
Nakul also had to help his cinematographer climb the tower.
Directed by Ramprakash Rayappa, the film’s story revolves around the aftermath of a geomagnetic storm.
It also stars Dinesh, Bindu Madhavi, Aishwarya Dutta, Satish and Urvashi in important roles.
Nakul plays a youngster.
“I play this fun character from Otteri (north Chennai). The image that audiences have about me so far will be broken with this role,” he said.
Calling it an experimental film, Nakul guarantees it is neatly packed with “commercial elements” too to appeal to the masses.
“The concept is quite new for Tamil cinema. But the film has all the elements such as romance, comedy and action to appeal to the commercial audience,” he said, and added that he was excited about working with a “young” and “passionate” team.
“If my director asks me to do sky-diving now, I’d gladly do it. He’s an exceptional director and I enjoyed so much working with this team. I know I had to spend more time on this project, but it was totally worth it,” he said.
“Tamiluku En Ondrai Azhuthavum” is slated to release Friday.
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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