Entertainment
I want to avoid unwanted controversy: Amitabh Bachchan
By Durga Chakravarty
New Delhi: At a time when writers, filmmakers and historians have revolted against a rising culture of intolerance towards freedom of speech, Indian cinematic icon Amitabh Bachchan, a widely followed celebrity on social media platforms, says he’s always cautious about expressing himself to avoid “unwanted controversy”.
With over 20 million Facebook fans, a Twitterati of 17.5 million, and a growing “extended family” on his blog, the 73-year-old son of legendary poet Harivanshrai Bachchan was aptly titled the ‘Social Media Person of The Year’ by an association earlier this year.
He often writes about trivia related to his past, present and future projects; shares his views on life in general and social issues; talks about his weaknesses, his family members, especially his grandchildren; but what Big B mostly avoids is commenting on sensitive issues.
Is he reluctant about sharing his views freely?
“That’s a discretion I will exercise because there is a certain vulnerability with celebrities,” Big B told IANS in an interview on the phone from Mumbai.
“We (celebrities) are vulnerable to almost everything. There are times when something we may have spoken could have created a controversy…So, there is a certain amount of cautiousness that I exercise,” he added.
But there are actors and filmmakers who share their thoughts on socio-political matters without a second thought.
“God bless them,” exclaimed the thespian, adding that he finds such people “very brave, honest, frank and strong”.
“I exercise a lot of restraint in expressing myself on various issues… I don’t want to create unnecessary controversy,” said Amitabh, who has learnt the tricks of the trade in his four decade-long journey in filmdom.
He also said that if he is ever forced into commenting on something, “I will perhaps not be able to give an adequate reply, or I will excuse myself from it because either I don’t have the right answers or I don’t wish to make comments on it.”
Big B’s latest initiative to connect with his fans and well-wishers across the globe is Wakau, a celebrity video blogging application, which he launched on Thursday. He’s looking forward to let his fans into his candid moments and open up his life to them further.
His adeptness with technology has improved over the years and, unlike many his age, he has embraced it beautifully — even though he admitted that he’s not totally comfortable with it.
The “Paa” actor makes no bones about saying that he turns to his children Abhishek and Shweta, as well as to his grandchildren Navya Naveli and Agastya Nanda, when he doesn’t understand new features on smartphones, laptops or iPads.
“My kids and grandchildren help me with these modern inventions. Sometimes when I don’t know how to work on a mobile or a laptop or an iPad, they are very conversant to that, so I seek their help,” Big B said.
He feels the onus to introduce “older generations — grandparents and at many times parents who are not conversant with technology -” lies on the youngsters.
Recounting one incident when he introduced his celebrated father to a mobile phone, he shared: “I remember the first time when I took a mobile phone to my father, he had actually backed away from it… like there was some kind of danger involved here.
“But gradually once they get used to it, they understand.”
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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