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Turning 50: B-Town’s Khans ‘happy’, ‘dabangg’, creating ‘dhoom’

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Aamir, Shah Rukh, Salman

New Delhi: They’re turning 50, but the indomitable clout of Bollywood’s Khan trio – Aamir, Shah Rukh and Salman – in the Hindi entertainment space continues to get stronger. Age notwithstanding, the trio has a much brighter future, predict trade experts and film celebrities.

Katrina Kaif, who played the leading lady to all the three, says it’s their “passion, audiences’ love and desire (to excel)” that keeps them going.

“Besides being truly talented, they’re all spectacular people, and they’ll be here for as long as they choose to be,” Katrina told IANS.

Aamir is the first of the lot to be turning 50 on Saturday, but he’s an unstoppable force, who brings something new and clutter-breaking to the table.

He may have lost his cute college-boy looks he had in “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak” and “Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin”, but if Aamir stands out even today, it’s for his ability to tell ‘edutaining’ tales. He raised the social conscience with films like “Rang De Basanti” on corruption; “Taare Zameen Par” on dyslexia; “3 Idiots” on the education system; and he took a swipe at organised religion and godmen with “PK”, as well as his TV show “Satyamev Jayate”.

After delighting audiences for over 25 years, the actor is yearning to scale more heights — so what if it’s with one film a year — he still manages to create “dhoom”.

Aamir says he is “still 18 years old (in my mind)”.

“I don’t feel that I have reached at the peak of my career. According to me, ‘peak’ means you are about to go downwards, so I hope I am not at the peak of my career.”

Indeed, age is no bar for Bollywood’s ‘Mr. Perfectionist’.

Just as passionately he built an eight-pack for “Ghajini”, now Aamir’s beefing up to play a wrestler in “Dangal”.

Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, who’s yet to work with the Khans, says none of them look 50.

“I think they’ll continue having such dominance in the coming years too,” Bhardwaj told IANS.

Same is the case with SRK, who will cross ‘half century’ on November 2.

A dekko at his career graph explains why he’s referred to as the ‘Bollywood Badshah’.

He became a rare example from the 1980s, to carve out a successful film career following a TV stint. With shows like “Fauji” and “Circus”, he found a visibility that pulled him into the world of films.

Making it big initially with grey roles in “Baazigar” and “Darr”, SRK climbed the ladder of success with “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”, “Dil To Pagal Hai” and “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, which earned him the epithet of “Bollywood’s king of romance’.

Then, with actioners like “Don” and “Ra.One”, and issue-based entertainers like “Swades” and “Chak De! India”, SRK proved that he can do much more than opening his arms wide open and flashing dimpled cheeks.

When he revisited love sagas with “Main Hoon Na”, “Om Shanti Om” and “Chennai Express” — his fans embraced him with love. A successful producer, who believes in the power of technology, SRK’s projects chug away smoothly to Rs.200 crore club.

Despite success on the film front, SRK kept going back to his roots — the TV space, with shows like “Kaun Banega Crorepati”, “Zor Ka Jhatka”, and currently, he is hosting “India Poochega – Sabse Shaana Kaun”.

Talking of one actor who encapsulates the TV and film audiences with his ‘dabangg’ (fearless) ways is Salman, who has turned out to be a true-blue commercial star among the masses. Touted as one of the most bankable stars of tinsel town, he’s easily the ‘Bigg Boss’ of Hindi showbiz.

He has a mix of romantic, comical, action-oriented and family drama roles to his credit, but in his second innings his blockbuster journey took off with “Dabangg”. His ‘masala’ laden filmography became tastier with “Ready”, “Bodyguard”, “Wanted” and “Kick”.

Salman’s first stint with TV was “Dus Ka Dum”, which wasn’t as ‘dumdaar’, but with reality show “Bigg Boss”, he has kicked up a storm on the small screen too!

According to Mumbai-based trade analyst Komal Nahta, the three Khans may be turning 50, “but their box office strength is that of a 25-year-old”.

“They’ll continue to rule the industry for many more years to come. The kind of box office impact they have with their films and the way they entertain the audience, I don’t think anybody can do that…,” Nahta told IANS.

Distributor Rajesh Thadani doubts if “any new actors can last for this long”.

“These three Khans generate the maximum revenue for our industry, and we all look forward for their releases. I’m assuming they will continue to rule,” Thadani said.

Entertainment

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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