Entertainment
‘Spotlight 2’ gave me chance to change on-screen image, says Karan Grover
Mumbai, Feb 2 (IANS) Actor Karan V Grover who is playing a rock star in the new web series titled “Spotlight 2”, written and produced by Vikram Bhatt, says this show has given a chance to change his image of a “good boy”.
The story of the show revolves around the singer, Vicky, who goes through very emotional highs and lows in his journey as a musician.
Asked about what made him choose the show, Karan told IANS here that “this web series given me a chance to change my image as an actor. So far I have never played a guy who has so much emotional ups and downs through the whole show.
“He is a musician who reaches the pinnacle of success and then falls down to a level from where he becomes life threat for himself, under the influence of drugs.”
According to him, there are some moments where Karan felt quite scared to depict the destructive nature of his character.
“Since there are no similarities the character has with me as an individual, there are some points of the shooting I felt really scared of him. I mean Vicky does drugs, smoke cigarettes, takes his achievements, people and his loved ones for granted and has every bad habit. So, yes, I had no hangover of Vicky but thinking about the existence of such a character scared me.
“I do not smoke; neither do I encourage smoking to anyone. But, during the scenes I smoked and later I started worrying about if I am getting addicted to it,” he added.
Since he is playing a character that has many grey shades and does much wrong, Karan, asked how he convinced himself to play it, said: “Well, I take all my opinion and throw them out of the window when I am playing a character. My individual opinion does not come in between; on set, I am following the vision of the director.”
Starting his career with TV show “Saarrthi”, he appeared in several daily soaps like “Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki”, “Punar Vivah – Ek Nayi Umeed” among many others. in fact, he bagged Kalakar Awards in Best Actor category for “Punar Vivah”.
Though he acted in only one film “Wedding Pullav” in 2015, Karan, asked about if he wants to explore Bollywood more, said: “I have worked in television for 10 years. So for me, TV and web are my primary interest and getting a film is a matter of opportunity. If it comes my way, I will explore. Meanwhile, I will be doing TV and digital shows. I am happy with it.”
Produced and written by Bhatt and directed by Suhail Tatari, “Spotlight 2” featuring him and Aditi Arya is streaming on digital platform Viu.
–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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