Entertainment
Audiences will see me in double size in ‘Sultan’: Salman Khan
By Sugandha Rawal
Mumbai: There’s ‘double’ fun coming from superstar Salman Khan! After bringing a spell of “double trouble” for contestants of Colors’ reality show “Bigg Boss Nau”, he says his fans can expect to see him in “double size” in his “Sultan” big screen outing.
“Audiences will see me in double size. My training for ‘Sultan’ has started; so I need to get bigger and fitter for the role,” Salman, who at 49, is fit as a fiddle, told in an interview.
He still puts hours into his workout regime and fitness routine. Still, the “Dabangg” star is putting all his energy to get in form for the role as a wrestler in Ali Abbas Zafar’s “Sultan”, which is said to be packed with high-octane action.
While “Sultan” will hit the screens on Eid 2016, Salman will also offer his fans a Diwali blast this year with “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo”. He’s teaming up with Sooraj Barjatya after 16 years, and returns in an innocent avatar as Prem – an onscreen name he has taken on several times in the past.
But the actor, one of the highest paid actors of Bollywood and whose “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” turned out to be a blockbuster, is not pinning any hopes on any of his future projects.
“If it has to work it will work and if it doesn’t have to work, it will not. Our job is to do our best, our job is to work, publicise it as much as we can, and hope fans really enjoy the film. After that, it is up to the fans that they go and watch it if like it or not,” he said.
For now, Salman is geared to host “Bigg Boss Nau”, which will premiere on Colors channel on October 11.
Unlike Amitabh Bachchan, Salman and Aamir Khan are yet to be seen in a fiction entertainer on the small screen. Shah Rukh Khan of course began his career with TV, but after becoming a cine star, he too hasn’t featured on a TV drama.
Asked about this, Salman said: “It’s always the monetary thing…if those TV shows start paying as much as you are getting in films, then I think people will start doing TV like they are doing films.
“And since the TV industry is almost ten times bigger than the film industry, I don’t see why that doesn’t happen.
He is however hopeful. It’s going to change… at least I hope it does,” said the star, who is also looking forward to finding out who will participate in “Bigg Boss” this time.
Every year around the time of the show’s launch, anticipation surrounding the line-up of contestants rises to a new level. The guessing game has been on this time too!
This year names like Radhe Maa, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Ankit Gera, Neha Marda and Roopal Tyagi have come up.
Salman says “the surprising thing is that I also get to know that they are entering the house on the spot only”.
“Bigg Boss”, an Indian version of a hugely popular international format, features celebrity contestants locked up in a purpose-built house under camera surveillance for about three months.
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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