WSL Stars Encourage Impossible in New Samsung Spot

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In ‘Snail,' we watch as a young boy in India pushes beyond both his physical and cultural limitations to connect with a world of surfing he's only seen on his phone.

Surfing has a pretty profound impact on lives. I'm guessing yours is a good example. You're on this page because at some point in your life -- maybe yesterday, maybe decades ago -- you decided to grab a board, paddle out, and catch a liquid pulse of energy...And it changed you.

But why? What good came of it? And why do we spend so much of our energy chasing that original thrill? Those answers can be hard to come by, but anyone who's experienced it understands why, in this the age of sharing, the allure of riding waves is traveling like never before. And today, more than ever, newcomers all over the globe are being inspired by the world's best.

Fourteen-year old Ajeez got the starring role after winning a local surf contest in India. - WSL

This is the premise of Samsung's latest cinematic spot, The Snail. The video features a 14-year-old surfer from India named Ajeez, who's a student of Covelong Point Social Surf School in Tamil Nadu. And in this beautifully shot spot he plays a boy who goes from dreaming of coming out of his shell to doing it, ignoring all resistance in his path. And it helps that he's being inspired by watching some of the WSL's greatest in action.

At 14 the imagination is still powerful enough to find perfection where others can't. - WSL

The Samsung team discovered Ajeez earlier this year at the Karnataka Surfing Festival in Sasihithlu Beach. After he won the under-16 division he was asked to come to a casting call. That's where his surfing prowess, his huge smile, and the fact that he wasn't the least bit shy helped him land the job.

"I don't think people realize how big this is for India," Arun Vasu, co-founder of the Covelong school, told The Hindu newspaper. "It puts us right in the center of the surfing scene."

A few weeks later, Ajeez was getting movie-star treatment. "There was a person to hold an umbrella for him, another to carry his towel and surfboard wherever he went, and yet another to iron his pants and shirts all four days of the shoot," said Arun.

The production crew included some 80 people, who worked on the shoot around the clock at the school. It's the third Samsung video featuring WSL stars. Head to Samsung's YouTube to see more.