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Thankful to Madhur for believing in me: ‘Calendar Girls’ actor

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Mumbai: Model Vikram Sakhalkar, who plays a business tycoon in Madhur Bhandarkar’s upcoming film “Calendar Girls”, says that he is grateful to the director for giving him an opportunity to prove himself.

“I’m thankful to Madhur Bhandarkar for believing in me and giving me an opportunity to prove myself,” Vikram told IANS here.

Vikram, who has done several commercials and print campaigns for many leading brands, always wanted to be an actor.

“I play a business tycoon in the movie. I took a leap of faith when I first walked on to the sets of the movie. As an outsider I had no clue of how films are made. Madhur made me feel very comfortable and in a short span of time I learnt a lot from him. He is brilliant when he is directing and gives a lot of freedom to his actors to perform,” Vikram said.

“The energy and aura he creates on set is so positive. I had a great time. I am thankful that I got an opportunity to work with such an experienced director for my first film,” he added.

Born in Mumbai, Vikram studied at Arya Vidya Mandir in Juhu and moved to the US.

Asked how he got into modelling, Vikram replied: “I came back and was trying to figure out what I was going to do, and then one of my friends asked me if I would model for his brand. That’s when I decided to get into this field as it was always at the back of my mind that I wanted to one day be an actor.”

“It took me seven years until I cracked a movie role,” he added.

Although during this interval he groomed himself and did an acting course from Barry John acting Studio, he admits it’s hard to live alone in Mumbai.

“Calendar Girls” traces the story of five models who rise to fame after featuring in a calendar but then fate plays a terrible game with them. Produced by Madhur Bhandarkar and Sangeeta Ahir, the film features newcomers Akanksha Puri, Avani Modi, Kyra Dutt and Ruhi Singh, among others.

It is slated to release on September 25.

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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