Entertainment
Bollywood actress Dia Mirza to play ‘delicious part’ in web series
New Delhi: Veteran Bollywood actress Dia Mirza has two “very interesting shows” lined up in the web space. Apart from Nikkhil Advani’s historical show, she says she has another web series in which she will play a “delicious part”.
Dia was last seen on the big screen in “Sanju” as Manyata Dutt.
Her fans will soon see her in “two very interesting shows”.
“One is being directed by Nikkhil Advani. It’s an epic. It’s been a dream to be a part of a historical. I will be working with Shabana Azmi again as well as Ronit Roy whom I have admired as an artiste and of course, working with Nikkhil is going to be great fun,” Dia told media persons in a telephonic interview from Bengaluru where she mentored young women for fbb Colors Femina Miss India 2019.
Without giving away much about her second web series, she shared: “The second one is a drama and is based on a true story. I get to play a female protagonist and it’s a delicious part.”
Hailing the digital platform, the “Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein” actress said: “I think it’s really an exciting time for women in films and just female artistes because I think where cinema is not writing enough female parts, digital platforms are making up for that.
“Exciting and enterprising work is being written for women and I am going to make the most of it.”
As a producer, she has another web series titled “Mind The Malhotras” in her kitty.
“When we set up Born Free Entertainment, we wanted to tell fun, engaging, socially relevant and relatable stories,” she said about the production house that has backed films “Bobby Jasoos” and “Love Breakups Zindagi”.
“Whether it is through cinematic or digital experience… it’s really about telling stories that excite us,” she added.
Dia Mirza will be seen to play ‘delicious part in another web series:
The sitcom genre was exciting enough for her.
“‘Mind The Malhotras’ is a sitcom. It’s a space that we haven’t really explored too much of in India. It’s a digital format and that makes it even more exciting. We will be launching the show very soon,” said Dia.
Starring Mini Mathur and Cyrus Sahukar, the show is based on the Israeli comedy “La Famiglia”.
Talking about the current trend of remakes and adaptations in Indian showbiz, she said: “It is interesting to draw (inspiration) from different cultures and see what other people are doing.
“The idea of an official adaptation is three-fold. One is that you have to stick with the format of the original, the second is you aim to make it better and the third is to bring it to Indian context. That’s why it is exciting. America and Europe also adapt… It is a great time for exchange for the flow of culture and art.”
But there are some who feel that Indian filmmakers are probably running out of original ideas hence, they are looking elsewhere for content.
She thinks it is equally, if not more challenging, to adapt content as it would be to create an original one.
“The challenge is exactly the same. You may think that you can rest on the existing format and just go with it but a lot of work goes into making it compelling. I think that would be an unfair criticism,” said Dia.
“If you think about great literature, art or poetry world over, generations have found their interpretations of those people and their work. They are redone differently. We all are constantly inspired by works of art that we want to kind of reinterpret.
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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