After a fairly controversial ad that released last summer, Deepika Padukone is back at it again with a Nike ad but manages to strike the right chords this time around. The 172-second long ad is one humdinger of a celebration of female athletes in the country. The video that was uploaded on 10 July on YouTube by the official YouTube channel of Nike India has crossed 25,000 views in just over a day and has received generally favourable comments and reviews.
Apart from the Bollywood actress, a slew of Indian female athletes including Joshna Chinappa, Shweta Hakke, Rani Rampal, Gabriella Demetriades, Ishita Malaviya, Jaie Bhadane, Naina Mansukhani, Swetha Subbiah, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jyoti Ann Burrett, Tanvie Hanscan among others can also be seen in the advertisement which is directed by French director François Rousselet.
What makes the ad significantly impressive is the music by Genera8ion and rapper Gizzle. The catchy beats of ‘Da Da Ding’ is sure to play in the viewer’s head long after the video has been stopped.
The advertisement peeps into the hard training schedules of athletes we rarely get to know of. The athletes can be seen working out, doing push-ups, running around with a sense of belief. Deepika Padukone, who happens to be the daughter of one of India’s finest badminton stars Prakash Padukone and was a national level badminton player herself, features in the ad as just another athlete and not as a film star which she is.
The athletes are shown playing basketball, cricket, hockey, football and boxing and even the actress flashes off her forehand and backhand smash skills in the video. The merging of scenes of female athletes running and schoolgirls climbing down the stairs and somersaulting in the last few seconds makes the message of the advertisement clear – ‘Womenfolk, embrace sports.’
Padukone posted the video on her Facebook page with a moving message accompanying it where she wrote, “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!“
The advertisement comes almost a month before India’s shooter Apurvi Chandela becomes the first Indian sportsperson to take a shot at an Olympic medal at Rio Olympics and a few days after Dipa Karmakar was bestowed the distinction of ‘World Class Gymnast’ from the Federation de Internationale de Gymnastique. A lot of medal hopes rest on female athletes in the Rio Olympics which will see the largest contingent from India this year. This riveting video with its catchy soundtrack and the Nike tagline ‘Just Do It’ can prove to be just the right motivation for them, as well as anyone who is looking for it.
