Entertainment
Film with SRK at very premature stage: Kangana Ranaut
Mumbai : She is one actress in Bollywood whose box-office scorecard has not depended on the the male lead of her films, and her versatility has won her fans like megastar Amitabh Bachchan and superstar Aamir Khan. Now she is likely to star with Shah Rukh Khan, but she says the project is at a very premature stage.
Rumours have been rife that Shah Rukh and Kangana are going to work in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film.
Asked about it, Kangana told IANS: “Sanjay sir just spoke to me about the film, saying that he wants to make it with me and Shah Rukh sir. But it’s at a very premature stage. It’s not that I am working with Shah Rukh sir tomorrow or something like that… So, yeah, like I said, it’s at a very premature stage.”
The actress was the showstopper for designer Tarun Tahiliani, who flagged off the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) Winter/Festive 2016 on Tuesday night here. The five-day fashion gala begins from Wednesday at St. Regis here.
The “Queen” of Bollywood feels fortunate to be a part of such grandeur.
“I think I am very fortunate because I get these opportunities. I am an actress and my film characters are usually not very fashion-inspired. As an artiste, I don’t know where and how these opportunities just come my way where I get to work with the finest artistes in the country and get to display or wear their designs and even get to see their collections,” said the National Award winner.
She says these chances help her to know more about fashion and understand it better.
“I am an artiste and I love to be inspired. If I wasn’t walking the ramp, I would never get exposed to these collections. I am so busy that I can’t participate in the whole fashion scene that is going on in the country, but because I work with designers and their shows, I get to know so much about them and the fashion industry,” she added.
On the big screen, Kangana will be next seen in a biopic on Rani Lakshmibai, a character she feels inspired by in many ways.
“I think ‘Jhansi Ki Rani’ is a very relevant film for many reasons and one of those reasons is the reminder of the amount of sacrifice and work that has been put out by people. It’s also a reminder to value things much more than we actually do and to instill that passion and pride for our country which people even in testing times had.”
Rani Lakshmibai, a fiery queen of Jhansi, had taken up arms against the British in 1857 to free her state.
Kangana believes the present generation is “lost somewhere” and she feels the movie will serve the purpose of helping people value the freedom.
“I do identify with it (her story) obviously… She is a very inspirational woman not just for me, but for so many other people,” she added.
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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