Interview with Puma brand influencer Neha Dhupia: "Running fills every void in my life"

Neha Dhupia has competed in over 10 half marathons

Bollywood film actress Neha Dhupia is often seen pursuing challenging roles in India’s ever-growing film industry. However, little do people know about Neha Dhupia the sportsperson. An avid marathon runner, she has competed in eleven half-distance races. Now, Puma running’s brand influencer, she is looking to popularise the sport across India.

The latest edition of the Kolkata TATA 25k run, in association with Puma saw some of India’s strongest running talent on show. Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh was also there to motivate, both the causal and professional runners.

Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, Neha discussed the importance of running in everyday life and how to increase the sport’s popularity in India

Q. How important is running in both your professional and personal life?

Lots of people think running is just about fitness, and I think that’s a wrong perspective. There is a lot that it can be used to do. For me it helps me shed a lot of professional baggage and it’s helped with my personal life as well. Being a single girl in a city like Mumbai isn’t easy. So I used to run to clear my head personally as well. In fact, it also helped me fill the void of a companion in my life, so yes running matters a lot to me.

Q. How does running as a sport help you in your day to day life?

It’s all about goals, when you start running you begin with 500 m to 1 km and so on. Life is very similar that way, you have one holistic goal, and then you have smaller sub goals. Running teaches you to deal with that, not to give up and keep going. The ultimate goal is to finish, but prior to that there are so many other things you have to do. Like if I go back to when I started running, I could barely finish a 600 m run and now I’m running half marathons. So it doesn’t happen overnight. My running career started much later as compared to my acting career.

Q. What are the tips you would give to upcoming runners in India?

I would like to tell them to go out and start running, just do it as a hobby. Then start taking baby steps towards higher distances. Join a running group, there are so many in every city these days. They will help you a lot in understanding the nuances involved. Take it from there. Don’t think of it as a burden, but try and enjoy it.

Q. What are your thoughts about the current state of running in India?

I think with so many brands such as Puma helping raise awareness about the sports, 2016 will definitely be the year. There will be more marathons with higher participation like the TSK and Urban stampede. Not just from the attendance side, I think India will start producing more professional talent too.

Q. Since you spoke of professional talent, any thought on women’s running in India?

Professionally it’s improving, you have Lalita Babar who seems like a great talent, and there are others as well. But I think we can definitely improve the participation in the amateur category. For example, the TSK turn-out was superb, but the ratio was like 1:15. So it needs to increase soon.

Q. Any particular style quotient you follow?

When you’re running you want to wear stuff that is comfortable. All Puma products fit me very well, so I generally wear those.