Entertainment
Now I like my life calm: Arjun Rampal on turning 46
By Subhash K. Jha
Mumbai, Nov 26 (IANS) There’s no noisy birthday party for Arjun Rampal, who turned 46 on Sunday. The actor says he has walked enough on the “wild side” and prefers a calm life with a “rock-steady family life and an adventurous career”.
“It’s just around 30 close friends, meeting up having a good time together. Nothing else,” Arjun said of his party plans.
“After you reach a certain age, you no longer want to indulge in wild parties. You just want to be with close family and friends. I’ve seen enough of that life. I’ve walked on the wild side. Now I like my life calm. Spending time with my wife and two daughters gives me a bigger high than anything else,” he added.
At 46, what are Arjun’s thoughts on his life and life according to Bollywood’s rules?
“Do I have to be reminded of my age? But seriously, I couldn’t have asked for more. I’ve a rock-steady family life and a career that is known for being adventurous. As far as the film industry is concerned, I see a lot of intolerance within the industry and from outside the film industry towards actors, filmmakers and our work.
“This is very frightening. We must stop pre-judging art before the artiste puts forward his idea to the public.”
On the career front, Arjun’s last release was his ambitious biopic on Arun Gawli.
“‘Daddy’ got me what I wanted. It was meant to be a reasonably-budgeted film showing us a side to Gawli not seen before. My performance was appreciated. Everybody went home happy.”
Arjun’s next release is J.P. Dutta’s “Paltan”, a war movie which the actor is thoroughly enjoying shooting.
“It’s my first time with J.P. Dutta and also my first war movie. I’ve always enjoyed films of that genre, especially J.P. saab’s ‘Refugee’ and ‘Border’. I am glad to be in one,” he added.
After that, Arjun goes into a film called “Nastik”, which as the name tells, is about an atheist.
“In real life too I don’t believe in God. I believe in worshipping the Universe. The film has an interesting script and the director Shailesh Varma is very talented. It is important to work with the new enthusiastic talent. That’s the only way to take the industry forward.”
–IANS
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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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