Dubai: A six-year-old lockdown joke by Dubai-based Kerala expat Priya Praveen has found a massive new audience after Bollywood star Vidya Balan recreated her viral audio.
A comment under Vidya Balan’s latest viral Instagram Reel captured the significance of the moment: “So your voice finally reached here.”
For Priya, the moment was deeply personal. Having grown up believing her voice was a flaw, seeing an audio clip she created during the 2020 pandemic reach one of Indian cinema’s biggest stars felt surreal.
“I made the Reel just for fun. At that time, I never imagined that the sound would stay around for so many years,” Priya told Gulf News.
How a lockdown joke became a viral sound
Priya began making videos during the Covid-19 lockdown to stay occupied and remain connected with family and friends.
A former banker who left her job after the birth of her daughter, she later pursued her passion for Kerala mural painting. Around the same time, when she started experimenting with TikTok videos alongside her husband and daughter, she was hesitant to use her own voice.
“I am actually a selective extrovert,” she said. “I am not someone who has the confidence to stand on a stage or face a live audience.”
Her turning point came during Onam 2020, when a video collaboration with friends living in different countries gave her the confidence to appear using her own voice.
Soon after, inspired by the humorous videos being made around Hindi-language Covid-19 advisories, Priya created a comedy sketch titled “Shall We Learn Hindi?”
The video featured deliberately incorrect Hindi-Malayalam translations, including the now-famous line “Is duniya mein koi nahi“, which she jokingly translated as “There are no chickens in this world.”
The audio quickly caught on, with influencers and Malayalam celebrities recreating it over the years.
Six years later, Vidya Balan revives the audio
Priya had largely moved on from the 2020 video when friends began tagging her under Vidya Balan’s latest Reel featuring the original audio.
“I was really surprised and happy,” Priya said. “I assume the sound reached her through social media because so many people had already used it. There were even AI-generated videos made using my sound.”
The Reel quickly gained widespread attention and was also shared by BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
For Priya, however, the biggest surprise was not the celebrity connection but seeing people recognise a voice she had once felt insecure about.
The voice she was once told to hide
Priya recalls being teased about her voice for as long as she can remember.
“Since childhood, I grew up hearing that my voice was bad,” she said. “Some people used to compare it to the sound of a crow or even scratching on a rock.”
The comments continued over the years — even after her daughter was born: “everyone said she got her mother’s worst feature,” she recalled.
Today, whenever influencers or public figures use the audio, friends tag Priya to tell her that her voice has reached a wider audience.
“It was honestly a very funny and emotional feeling for me,” she said.
A Dubai life shaped by creativity
Priya’s creative journey has taken several forms over the years. After leaving banking, she followed her passion for traditional Kerala mural art and launched an online boutique selling sarees and churidars featuring her hand-painted designs.
However, a major road accident in Dubai left her with injuries to her right shoulder and scapula, requiring a metal implant and making long hours of painting difficult.
“I cannot strain my right hand continuously for hours. That has made painting a little difficult for me,” she said.
Reels later became another creative outlet, allowing her to continue expressing herself without the physical demands of painting.
Priya lives in Dubai with her husband, Praveen, who works as Vice President of Operations at a real estate firm. Their daughter is studying forensic science in India.
‘I never planned any of this’
Despite the sudden attention, Priya has no plans to pursue a career as a voice artist or influencer.
“I have never been a voice artist and I have never worked in the audio or entertainment field,” she said. “I make Reels simply as a way of relaxing and relieving tension.”
She said she is enjoying the recognition without any expectations.
“Even now, I don’t have any big plans or expectations about where this will take me. I am just enjoying this unexpected moment.”
For Priya, the biggest irony is seeing a voice she once felt insecure about become instantly recognisable.
“For me, the most amusing part is that a voice I was once told was ‘bad’ has now become the voice people recognise,” she said.
“I am genuinely happy and grateful for all the love and attention I am receiving. I never planned any of this. It just happened — and that makes the whole story even more special to me.”
Vidya Balan’s bond with Malayali audiences
Vidya Balan, whose family roots are in Palakkad, has built a strong connection with Malayali audiences through her Malayalam-themed Reels and appreciation for Malayalam cinema.
The Mumbai-born actor has recreated several iconic moments from Malayalam films, including Urvashi’s English-speaking cooking scene from Achuvinte Amma and Harisree Ashokan’s popular comic dialogue from Punjabi House. Both videos received widespread praise from fans and Malayalam film personalities.
Her latest Reel has taken that connection further, bringing renewed attention to Priya’s six-year-old creation.
On the work front, Vidya Balan was last seen as Badi Begum in Raja Shivaji, directed by and starring Riteish Deshmukh, alongside Sanjay Dutt and Genelia Deshmukh.
She is also set to reunite with Akshay Kumar for an upcoming family comedy directed by Anees Bazmee.