Entertainment
When Mahira Khan felt ‘violated’
Mumbai, March 23 (IANS) Pakistani actress Mahira Khan says she felt “violated” when images of her sharing a cigarette with Indian actor Ranbir Kapoor emerged in the media.
Mahira also cited that it was the first time that she was embroiled in a controversy.
The “Humsafar” actress spoke at length about working in Bollywood, the impact of the tensions between India and Pakistan on the countries’ film industries, and the controversy, on “HARDtalk on BBC World News”.
Mahira’s photograph with Ranbir Kapoor emerged from New York in September last year, months after the actress’ Bollywood debut “Raees” hit the screens.
Recounting how it became a “national topic and debate”, she said: “That was the first time in my entire career that I was caught up in a so-called controversy and it was strange because there were so many things in that. One, obviously you feel violated, you are in a personal down time moment and someone has just photographed you.
“Two, obviously there was an uproar, because here I was, someone who is extremely loved in Pakistan, and they sort of keep me up on this pedestal you know, they treat me with a lot of love and a lot of respect. And there are certain things I didn’t realise that they don’t want to see me do.
“At that point yes, it was crazy honestly because it lasted for a while… It was crazy, it was ridiculous.”
Her film “Raees”, starring Bollywood ‘badshah’ Shah Rukh Khan, did not get a chance to release in Pakistan. Mahira said she was excited for the film to release in her nation.
“I was more excited about ‘Raees’ being released in Pakistan than anywhere else, because all I wanted was to sit there with my best friends and my child Azlaan and the audience and watch this and I couldn’t.”
The Pakistani censorship board had deemed “Raees” as an “ugly, horrible, unacceptable depiction of Muslims” at the time. Mahira feels had the movie released at any other time, it would not have been banned.
“I think their decisions sometimes are based on things that don’t even concern the film sometimes. So you know I don’t think that was the reason. They said it but I don’t know. I don’t know if ‘Raees’ was released today, would it be released,” said the 33-year-old actress.
The movie, released in January 2017, came just months after bilateral tensions intensified between India and Pakistan over the September 18, 2016 Uri attack that left 19 Indian soldiers dead and the September 28 surgical strikes by India on Pakistan terror camps.
After the incident, India’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena gave an ultimatum to Pakistani artistes to leave India. Zindagi channel withdrew telecast of Pakistani shows. And even the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) desisted from allowing Pakistani artistes to work in India.
As a result, Mahira couldn’t even promote the movie in India.
She reflected: “It was a two way thing. We got stuck under the political fire really, nothing else. But by the way, Pakistan is still showing Indian films, we haven’t banned Indian films at all.”
Mahira is currently filming for “Saat Din Mohabbat In” and “Maula Jatt 2”.
The episode with Mahira will be aired on March 26.
–IANS
ks/rb/bg
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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