Entertainment
More afraid to do commercial films: Dulquer Salmaan
Chennai, Sep 29 (IANS) Actor Dulquer Salmaan, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming Tamil-Malayalam bilingual film, says he is more afraid to do out-and-out commercial films than attempt an experimental project.
While “Solo”, an anthology of four stories, might come as an experimental attempt, Dulquer believes such projects give him courage.
“I have always entertained audiences with memorable content. Doing a film like ‘Solo’ gives me more courage because irrespective of its box office fate, people at least appreciate the intent, its effort or just the desire to make good cinema,” Dulquer told IANS.
“I’m more afraid to attempt an out-and-out commercial film. I feel it can either click or go all the way down. People will either like it or hate it,” he said.
Directed by Bejoy Nambiar, “Solo” is a story with a mythical touch. It’s a collection of four different stories on earth, water, fire and wind.
On the experience of shooting “Solo”, in which he plays four characters, Dulquer said it was taxing, both mentally and physically.
Nevertheless, he enjoyed being part of this film.
“The feeling of ‘we’ve accomplished so much at the end of a day’ kept us going. It was a good day’s work that gave us the kick. When you feel relaxed at the end of the day of a shoot, there’s no feeling of accomplishment. If I sleep after a tiring day of shoot, I know I’ve earned that sleep. It gives you lot of energy. ‘Solo’ gave me that feeling,” he said.
Initially, the team had plans to shoot “Solo” as four short films.
“I thought I’ll do a regular film and do a short film in between. But nothing worked out as per our plan. We shot in Kerala, Mumbai and Lonavala. We didn’t know where all the stories were taking us. We had to treat the stories differently,” Dulquer said.
“Except Bejoy and I, even the technical crew changed for each story. Even the assistant directors changed. The cameramen were different. As an actor, I felt like doing four different films, four different ideas and four different experiences,” he added.
“Solo”, which is slated for an October 5 release, also stars Arthi Venkatesh, Dhansikaa, Dino Morea, Neha Sharma and Sruthi Hariharan.
–IANS
hp/rb/bg
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.
Content provided by Adverloom