Entertainment
Pawan Malhotra to play investigating officer in ‘Weekend’
Mumbai: Actor Pawan Malhotra, who was seen as an investigating officer in “Bang Bang!”, will be seen in that role once again in Abhishek Jawkar’s “Weekend”. But there will be a twist to his character.
“Bang Bang!” was a film where his character turns out to be negative in the end, but in ‘Weekend’, his role is very strong with many twists and turns.
Jawkar felt no one could have done this role better than Pawan.
“People have seen Pawan Malhotra right from his ‘Nukkad’ days till ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. He is fabulous and an actor of a different zone. People still remember him as the Tiger Memon of ‘Black Friday’ or the coach of ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’.
“Similarly in my film, he has the most important role, but people will know him as an actor Pawan Malhotra and not by his character,” Jawkar told IANS.
The director had been keen to work with Pawan for a long time.
“Right from his ‘Black Friday’ to ‘Bang Bang!’, I admire them all. In my film, he plays the investigating CID officer who is very witty and sharp” he added.
“Weekend” traces the journey of seven friends who work in a Delhi-based advertising agency, and set out for Goa for a long weekend. After the fun an frolic, tables turn and soon their journey involves solving a murder case.
Debutant Karan Hariharan, son of singer Hariharan, had a challenging time matching up to the calibre of Pawan.
“Karan has the maximum number of scenes with Pawan Malhotra…it is obviously difficult for him. In fact, the first scene of his career was with Pawan… a very challenging scene in the police station. But he did it fantastically,” said the director.
The film also stars Sandeepa Dhar opposite Karan, and Esha Desai, the sister of actress Prachi Desai.
Jointly produced by the Red Bulb Studios and Adept Films, “Weekend” will hit the screens in early 2016.
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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