From voice insecurity to viral fame: Dubai expat’s audio gets a Vidya Balan boost.
Dubai: A six-year-old lockdown joke by Dubai-based Kerala expat Priya Praveen has found a new and much larger audience after Bollywood star Vidya Balan recreated her viral audio.
One comment under Vidya Balan’s latest viral Instagram Reel summed up the moment: “So your voice finally reached here.”
For Priya, the moment was especially meaningful. She had grown up believing her voice was a flaw, so 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 creating videos during the Covid-19 lockdown as a way to stay occupied and maintain a connection with family and friends.
A former banker who left her job after the birth of her daughter, Priya later turned to her passion for Kerala mural painting. Around the same time, she began experimenting with TikTok videos with her husband and daughter, although she was initially reluctant to use her own voice.
“I am actually a selective extrovert. 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 on camera using her own voice.
Soon after, inspired by humorous videos based on Hindi-language Covid-19 advisories, Priya created a comedy sketch titled “Shall We Learn Hindi?”
The video featured deliberately incorrect Hindi-to-Malayalam translations, including the now-famous line “Is duniya mein koi nahi,” which Priya jokingly translated as “There are no chickens in this world.”
The audio soon took on a life of its own, with influencers and Malayalam celebrities recreating it and helping it remain popular over the years.
Six years later, Vidya Balan brings the audio back
Priya had largely forgotten about the 2020 video when friends began tagging her in Vidya Balan’s latest Instagram Reel, which features 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.”
Vidya Balan’s Reel quickly attracted widespread attention and was also shared by BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
For Priya, however, the most meaningful part was not the celebrity association but seeing people embrace and recognise a voice she had once felt insecure about.
The voice she was once told to hide
Priya says she has faced comments about her voice since childhood.
“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 remarks continued over the years, even after her daughter was born. “Everyone said she got her mother’s worst feature,” Priya recalled.
Today, whenever influencers or public figures use the audio, friends tag Priya to let her know that the voice she once felt self-conscious about is reaching an increasingly wider audience.
“It was honestly a funny and emotional experience for me,” she said.
“I cannot strain my right hand continuously for hours, which has made painting a little difficult for me,” she said.
Reels later became another creative outlet for Priya, 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 placing any expectations on where it might lead.
“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 the 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.
She said she is genuinely grateful for the unexpected attention and the response her audio has received.
“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.”
For Priya, the journey has also been deeply personal.
“What makes the whole thing more special for me is that, since childhood, people have told me that my voice wasn’t good. Now, when people started recognising my voice and saying, ‘This is Priya’s voice,’ it was honestly a very funny and emotional feeling for me.”
Priya Praveen
Vidya Balan’s bond with Malayali audiences
Vidya Balan, whose family roots trace back to Palakkad, has built a strong connection with Malayali audiences through her Malayalam-themed Reels and her appreciation for Malayalam cinema.
The Mumbai-born actor has recreated several memorable 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 Reels received widespread praise from fans and members of the Malayalam film industry.
Her latest Reel has taken that connection a step further, bringing renewed attention to Priya’s six-year-old creation and introducing her voice to a new generation of viewers.
On the work front, Vidya Balan was most recently 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.
