Entertainment
Not violence but friendship forms core of ‘Meeruthiya Gangsters’: Aakash Dahiya
Mumbai: Actor Aakash Dahiya says that his film “Meeruthiya Gangsters” is unnecessarily being tagged as a gangster film despite it actually being an absolute friendship-based film.
“It’s being called as gangster film’ repeatedly, but this is not a criminal film. It is not a violent film. It’s a very likeable film about six friends. It is not just a gangster film, the bond and unity shared between them in a jovial manner forms the core of the film. The pillar on which ‘Meeruthiya Gangsters’ story rests is friendship,” said Aakash.
“The fact of the matter is that we haven’t depicted a single murder in the film, there are gunshots and breaking of bottles but that’s towards the end of the film. The film is a dark comedy and the intentions of the men are to get educated and work normally but they get defrauded and then start kidnapping people. The kidnapping has been portrayed in a humourous and organic manner,” he added.
An interesting fact about the film is that director Zeishan Quadri initially wanted Aakash to help him cast teenage boys for the film since Aakash is a talented casting associate. But some months later, Zeishan was assured that he needed Akash as an actor more.
Aakash says that his character’s name in the film is Amit and he is known as Shakuni in the film as he is the one who sparks fire in various situations.
“He’ll die for friendship but still gets his friends stuck in various problems. All the slaps that his friends receive in the film are due to him,” he said.
The actor also says that he doesn’t want to get typecast in a certain mould and wants to challenge himself.
“It has been my attempt to try out something different in all my films and to accept different kinds of films. In ‘Chillar Party’ my voice was different while in ‘D Day’ I had a different role. In ‘Bobby Jasoos’, I portrayed a Hyderabadi character.”
“Meeruthiya Gangsters” also features Mukul Dev, Sanjay Mishra, Nushrat Bharucha, Jaideep Ahlawat and is releasing 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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