Entertainment
Never been drawn to heroic characters: Imran Khan
New Delhi: Actor Imran Khan says he has “never been drawn” towards “heroic” roles as he feels that they lack “gravitas” and “emotional resonance”.
“I’ve never been drawn to heroic characters. Such characters don’t appeal to me and I don’t find them interesting,” Imran, whose latest film “Katti Batti” released on Friday, told IANS.
“I always feel that your film has to be grounded in reality for it to be relatable and for letting people to invest in it because if it’s entirely a fairytale world, then at some point, it lacks gravitas. It lacks an emotional resonance,” the 32-year-old added.
Imran feels that film scripts should be grounded in reality and to grab viewers’ emotions, “you have to make them laugh from the gut”.
The father of one said: “Whatever genre of film you are making, it has to be rooted in reality. You have to feel like this could happen to me in reality. When you watch Bollywood’s over-the-top masala films, nobody ever feels that I can go through the same thing.
“I’m always drawn towards films where I want people to watch my film and feel like this could be their story.”
In “Katti Batti”, Imran stars with Kangana Ranaut in a story of a live-in relationship.
The actor, who is the nephew of Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, says he never pays attention to those who compare him with the “PK” star.
Asked whether comparisons to Aamir matter to him, Imran said: “I don’t pay attention to those people. I don’t get annoyed with them because if anything that anyone will say will help me and will contribute in some way, then I’m happy to listen. Otherwise, I’m not interested.
“I’ve never really discussed my work with Aamir. In my family, we value honesty and excellence. We hold each other to a very high standard. It’s not about being from a filmy family, it’s being from my family. My family expects a lot of each other.”
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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