Deepika Padukone stars in new ad that promotes sports

A new ad for Nike featuring actress Deepika Padukone pays tribute to sportswomen and aims to fuel sport participation in India.

Released the three-minute long advertisement video ‘Da Da Ding’, also features national field hockey player Rani Rampal besids other leading Indian athletes like footballer Jyoti Ann Burrett and cricketers Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandana and Shubhlakshmi Sharma.

Padukone, who played national-level badminton before turning her full attention to acting, said, “Everything I am today and everything I have achieved comes from my years of playing sport. My goals, my commitment, my focus, my dedication, my discipline, my sacrifices, my hard work.

“All of it, I’ve learnt it all through sport. Sport has also taught me how to handle failure and success. It has taught me how to fight. It has made me unstoppable!” The 30 year old actress also posted on her Facebook page.

“Two years ago, I struggled with depression. I was sinking. I almost gave up. But it was the athlete in me that gave me the strength to fight and never ever give up! And so I want to say to every girl and every boy and every woman and every man...play a sport...because it changed my life...and it will change yours too!,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, created in collaboration with Wieden+Kennedy India, directed by French director Francois Rousselet, and set to a thumping anthem by Genera8ion, featuring American rapper Gizzle, ‘Da Da Ding’ charts the rise of female sport across a diverse range of passions, including basketball, football, running, training and the national obsession of cricket.

The music video urges the next generation to break conventions and define their own success by bringing sport into their lives.