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Daniel Craig aka James Bond auditioned for ‘Rang De Basanti’: Find out more

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Filmmaker and director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra recalls in his autobiography ‘The Stranger in the Mirror’ that James Bond actor Daniel Craig auditioned for the role of the jailor who walks freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev to be hanged in his film ‘Rang De Basanti.’

“I remember vividly that one of the people who auditioned for the part of James McKinley, the young jailor who walks Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev to be hanged, was none other than current James Bond, Daniel Craig,” reveals Mehra in his autobiography.

He further shares that he was impressed with Daniel’s audition and wanted to cast him in the film but the actor had asked for some more time before accepting the role as he was in talks for the James Bond role at the same time.

“Daniel Craig was my first choice but he requested if we could allow some time as he was also being considered to be the next James Bond. The rest, as they say, is history,” shares the Delhi-6 director.

The role was eventually played by James McKinley.

a person wearing a suit and tie

Rang De Basanti is a critically acclaimed 2006 film by Mehra which stars actors Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Alice Patten, Atul Kulkarni, Soha Ali Khan, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, and others. The movie was also chosen as India’s official entry for the Oscars and the Golden Globe Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Daniel Craig bagged the iconic role of James Bond in the same year and featured in ‘Casino Royale’. The movie was a hit and Daniel essayed the role of the English spy in three other films of the popular franchise.

Daniel will be returning for the fourth time as Bond in the soon-to-be-released ‘No Time to Die’.

Rakesh Omprakash Mehra’s ‘The Stranger in the Mirror’ is co-written by marketer-author Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta and is published by Rupa. It has a foreword by A R Rahman and an afterword by Aamir Khan.

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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

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.

CasinoDays India

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.

 

CasinoDays India

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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