Entertainment
Bollywood’s ‘Queen’ tag is quite funny: Kangana Ranaut
New Delhi: Her stupendous portrayal of an under-confident Rani in “Queen” won her not just a Best Actress National Film Award, but also earned her the epithet of Bollywood’s ‘Queen’. But Kangana Ranaut finds it “funny”.
“This ‘Queen’ of Bollywood tag is quite funny! Now I’m playing Rani Lakshmibai. So after that film, people will write on my grave ‘Rani Lakshmibai died here’,” Kangana quipped during a chat with media here.
The acclaimed actress, who has carved her niche in the Hindi film industry with power-packed women-centric roles in movies like “Gangster – A Love Story”, “Fashion” and “Tanu Weds Manu”, says her life can be clearly divided into a “pre-‘Queen’ and post-‘Queen’” eras.
“If there’s a biopic on me, it will be pre-‘Queen’ and post-‘Queen’… pre-‘Queen’ was a different world — black and white — and after ‘Queen’, my world has become colourful, because I’m getting a lot of offers that I think I deserve and I always thought I deserve, but would have never got,” said the actress, who’s known for being outspoken.
Now, she says “I’m as good as it can get”.
She will prove her mettle once again in one of her new roles in “Rani Lakshmibai”, which will be based on the Rani of Jhansi, one of the leaders of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The film will be directed by Ketan Mehta.
Besides “Rani Lakshmibai”, Kangana, who will next be seen in “Katti Batti”, also has films like Hansal Mehta’s “Simran” and Vishal Bhardwaj’s “Rangoon” in her kitty.
In “Rangoon”, which is set in the 1940s, the 28-year-old will sport a vintage look.
“We have done a few look tests, but we haven’t decided yet about my hairstyle. It will be more of a vintage hairstyle as the film is set in the 1940s. I love vintage stuff. We’re still zeroing down one look,” she said.
Apart from that, Kangana is also in talks for another film, which she says has a “musical” story.
“I have just signed these three films – ‘Rani Lakshmibai’, ‘Rangoon’ and ‘Simran’. But now there is one another musical, which I might start. It’s a musical film about circus and the script sounds very exciting, but I’ll announce it once it’s finalised,” Kangana said.
Meanwhile, the “Tanu Weds Manu Returns” actress will next be seen on the silver screen in Nikhil Advani’s “Katti Batti”, which also stars Imran Khan. The romantic-thriller will release on September 18.
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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