Entertainment
IIFA kicks off with trailer launch of ‘Mirzya’, Shilpa Shetty’s ‘thumkas’
Madrid: The 17th edition of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) gala here kicked off with much fanfare and aplomb. The opening day of the gala witnessed the official unveiling of movie “Mirzya”, which marks debut of Anil Kapoor’s son Harshvardhan, along with some thumkas of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on stage.
With Bollywood biggies like like Salman Khan, Anil, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone getting their Bollywood power to the Spain’s central capital, the stars not only showed their excitement of being in the city, but also shared how eager they are to perform on the award night.
The press conference to mark the opening of the four-day film extravaganza was held on Thursday.
During the session, Shilpa was asked by emcee Siddharth Kannan to show her dancing prowess with some “thumkas”, and a little hesitant Shilpa got the groove on with some moves. She will be conducting an exclusive ‘Yoga Masterclass’ at the IIFA weekend as well.
“Every time I get on the stage I feel like I am doing it for the first time. That keeps me going. I performed at IIFA nine years ago and its very nostalgic for me to come back again,” said the mother-of-one.
Also present on the stage were filmmaker Karan Johar, actor Fawad Khan – who will host the IIFA Rocks gala.
Actors Farhan Akhtar and Shahid Kapoor are all geared up to take the stage to host the Nexa IIFA Awards — which will see six acts by Bollywood stars including Salman, Priyanka, Deepika, Hrithik Roshan, Sonakshi Sinha and Tiger Shroff.
“It’s amazing to see that I am only talked about my hosting skills and nothing else nowadays. I used to be a filmmaker. It’s a long forgotten fact and I am not used to of accepting it,” Karan quipped while talking about his hosting gig.
The official teaser trailer of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s “Mirzya” took place in the presence of Bollywood’s A-listers. The film introduces Anil’s son Harshvardhan and Saiyami Kher, along with Anuj Chaudhary.
Mehra shared that the story of the film was with him for 30 years.
“The story was with me for 30 years. Secondly, Gulzar sir agreed to write the story and I felt so blessed. I thought my journey as a filmmaker came about in full circle and it was the turning point of my career to work and to bring his work on to screen,” Mehra said.
The director also asserted that the “second most important thing” was to get associated with his “favourite hero” Anil in some way.
“I always wanted to work with him (Anil) and always will, but somehow I got to work with his son and launch his first feature film. That will always remain so very important and close to my heart . Harsh’s first step into the world of cinema and some where I have been linked to that,” said Mehra, known for films like “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” and “Rang De Basanti”.
Even the proud father Anil expressed his joy.
“Today we have used this platform (IIFA stage) to launch the trailer of my son’s first film. You won’t believe that whenever I went (around the world) few people don’t even know I have son. They feel that I have two daughters (Sonam and Rhea), but that’s my son and it’s his first film,” he said.
Before the opening day press conference, one witnessed Bollywood celebrities receiving huge welcome from fans of Madrid with many shouting their name at the airport while some forcing themselves in the huge crowd to get a picture with their favourite celebrity.
The four-day gala will conclude with a colourful and exuberant awards ceremony on Sunday.
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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