Bombay Calling

Bombay Calling is a 2006 feature documentary film directed by Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, Bombay Calling chronicles the lives of young call center workers in Bombay (Mumbai) India.

Synopsis

Bombay Calling delves into the lives of a group of young Indians working outsourced jobs at a call center in Bombay. Without focusing too much on the politics, it profiles several characters as they train for and attempt to sell phone services to clients in the UK. The film shows both sides of the impact of globalization on India - the economic benefits, but also the break with tradition and loss of innocence the characters face. By the end of the film, the telemarketing venture has failed but the characters are resilient. For this reason, the film has been compared to Startup.com.

Awards

It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, and Most Innovative Documentary at the Doxa Film and Video Festival. The Film has played at festivals such as Hot Docs, Melbourne and Bergen and received a theatrical release in Canada during the summer of 2006.

Samsaya

Sampda Sharma, better known by her stage name Samsaya, is an Indian-born Norwegian singer and actress.

Early life

Samsaya was born Sampda Sharma in Hamirpur to an Indian mother in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. She lived in India with her family and moved to Norway at the age of only eleven months. She grew up on Ellingsrud in Oslo and went to Ellingsrudåsen skole and played football.

Growing up she was influenced by Hip-hop and listened to Public Enemy. She appeared with her first band at the age of nineteen. After several years of making music with other urban musicians in Oslo, she got her breakthrough as an actress in the Norwegian movies, Folk flest bor i Kina, the horror movie Villmark and Hawaii Oslo.

Career

Music

In 2004 she released her debut album Shedding Skin. She also gave out a video to the hit track "Ever been had?". After touring the whole of Norway she took a break and a couple of years later she set off to New York. After spending a year in New York, she launced her single "Special blend" by Prayon, in collaboration with Levi's Norway.