Entertainment
Lipstick Under My Burkha fame Aahana Kumra don’t beg for work anymore
Mumbai: Aahana Kumra has spent days wondering when would stage artistes get the validation they deserve but today she considers herself fortunate that due to digital platforms, actors like her do not have to beg for work or be bitter that stars kids get it easy.
The “Lipstick Under My Burkha” actor did theatre for more than a decade before venturing into TV series, films and digital platforms.
While the actor always craved for validation as a stage artistes, the situations has changed today.
“The best part about what’s happening right now, for actors like me, is that we have a great platform like the internet, through which our work is reaching across. I don’t have to beg for work anymore,” Aahana told media persons.
“There was a time I used to think, instead of taking so many auditions, can’t they just come and watch our play? I used to feel just because someone comes from a film family, they get work faster, whereas we have to do ten auditions for one project.”
The 34-year-old actor says, though the outsider versus insider debate will exist, she has never been bitter about it.
“As an actor, I don’t get too many options. I don’t come from a film family. It is not easy for women, especially when you don’t have a godfather backing you. I have made peace with it. I am getting less films, but I am content. I will eventually reap benefits.”
Lucknow’s girl Aahana Kumar now don’t beg for work due to digital platforms:
It is not only limited scripts, but also the constant boxing and judgments which one is subjected to as an outsider.
“I was told all the time that I am so tall, all the men will look shorter in front of me. I still get comments like ‘you don’t look conventional’. You get to hear that every day, so it is not as if I have to choose one script out of five. I choose one out of two.”
The actor currently features alongside Soni Razdan in “Yours Truly”, streaming on ZEE5.
Aahana says new age filmmakers have a firm grip on the content today but the yesteryear storytellers are still struggling with it.
Giving an example of how a popular director of the 90s approached her with a script-which she politely turned down-the actress said she often feels bad because “most of them are so out of touch.”
“Whatever work they are doing now, it is a struggle for them because the paradigm has completely shifted. They are still grappling with what has happened.
“They were doing the popular cinema in the 90s but that won’t work anymore. It is going to be a box office trash.
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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