Bollywood star Deepika Padukone says her dedication and hard work is inspired by her interest in sports.
Before venturing into modelling and then Bollywood, Padukone used to play badminton.
The daughter of veteran badminton player Prakash Padukone, the actress has come on board for Nike’s Da Da Ding campaign to motivate women to participate in sports.
“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. Sports has also taught me how to handle failure and success. It has taught me how to fight and it has made me unstoppable,” Padukone said in a statement.
In the Da Da Ding music video, Padukone and Indian hockey player Rani Rampal, alongside other leading Indian athletes such as footballer Jyoti Ann Burrett and cricketers Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandana and Shubhlakshmi Sharma, urge India’s next generation to define their own success by bringing sport into their lives.
“Coming from a small village never stopped me; every time I won a medal, I kept getting stronger and more confident to take on the world,” said Rampal, who in 2010’ at the age of 15, became the youngest player in the national team.
The Da Da Ding campaign has been created in collaboration with Wieden+Kennedy India, and is directed by French director François Rousselet. The music was given by Generation and features American rapper Gizzle.
