Entertainment
Post ‘Bigg Boss 8’, Praneet Bhatt eyes more acting roles
Mumbai: Actor Praneet Bhatt says he has emerged from “Bigg Boss 8” as a wiser man, who finds nothing “impossible”. He is now looking at bagging roles in more TV shows and movies.
Praneet, who came out from “Bigg Boss 8” with a clean working slate, said: “I will now be looking at work on television and of course in movies.”
“I feel I’ve just started a new phase in my life and career. After weathering the storms in the ‘Bigg Boss’ house, nothing in the outside world seems impossible. I’m still trying to come to terms with the real world outside ‘Bigg Boss’,” he added.
Praneet, known for his role as Shakuni in TV series “Mahabharat”, admits he has evolved as a human being in the three months that he’s stayed in the reality show.
“I’ve learnt more about life and experienced more facets of the human nature than I’ve done all my life. Believe me, I’ve come away from ‘Bigg Boss’ a wiser man.”
The actor, who was part of the notorious inside the “Bigg Boss” house says, “Puneet, Pritam, me and Gautam, the P3G, bonded better than the rest of the contestants. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t get along with the rest of the housemates.
“I am by nature a friendly and positive person. I made friends with Sushant (Divgikar) and Sonali (Raut). And we’ll continue to be friends even after the show is over.”
Praneet has good things to say about Puneet Issar.
He said: “I maintain he is well-meaning misunderstood guy. He gets over-emotional at times.”
Then what makes the contestants behave contrary to their true nature?
“It’s the environment within the House. It’s not a natural state to be in. We’re all locked in a 4,000 sq ft space where there is no privacy and no communication with the outside world. Plus, food is rationed. So one is constantly thinking of food and fighting for it. After a while all this gets to you.”
He says he’s grateful for remaining constant in his behaviour.
“It was a very gussawalla (anger-inducing) environment, and the situation often got ugly. I’d like to believe I rode the waves of uncertainty within the house and came out with my dignity intact,” said the actor, who has also featured in shows like “Suvreen Guggal – Topper of The Year” and “Geet”.
So, what is the best and worst experience Praneet has come out with?
“Worst, I’d like to forget. The best by far, was the weekly interaction with Salman Khan sir. Every Saturday, I used to wait to talk to him. And we’d also wait for the homemade food that Salman sir sent for all of us contestants in the ‘Bigg Boss’ house.
“It is not a small thing to get ‘ghar ka khana’ from Salman sir’s home.”
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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