Voice Artiste Deepa Venkat: It was a pleasant surprise to be voicing Aishwarya Rai

Voice artiste Deepa Venkat, who dubbed for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the Tamil version of director Mani Ratnam's magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan 1, has showered praise on Rai, saying that she was dumbfounded by the actress’ perfect Tamil in the original pilot.

Venkat penned a note for Rai on her exceptional performance in the film and shared it on Instagram, "No one is where they are, just by chance or luck," she said. "It takes years of patience, perseverance, hard work, intelligence, smartness, passion, and a host of such qualities to hone your skills with dedication and commitment to reach excellence.

"It was a pleasant surprise to be voicing Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. There were more surprises. The original pilot had her speaking perfect, proper Tamil. I was literally dumbfounded. Mind you, for most of us, who speak regular everyday Tamil, even simple sentences in pure Tamil, can be challenging. And while recording such lines, for the diction, expression, delivery, everything to be spot on, it takes time. And here, Aishwarya Rai was rocking it!" Venkat said.

"Next surprise. There was barely any one helping her with the lines during the take. Means, no one prompting. She had it all in her head. She had taken a whole lot of time, and like a good student, done her homework, properly. "Dubbing la paathukalam" is a common line during shoot in many, many places to just mouth your lines knowing well that someone else is doing your lines, so why bother. Not her, and definitely, not here.

"It is artistes like her, who show the way, that no matter how high you reach, you don't take anything for granted. And that every single detail matters. It has been absolutely wonderful to try and match her poise, tone and expression. It didn't come easily but I thoroughly enjoyed the process."

"A big thank you to director Dhanasekar, who patiently answered my endless questions during the dub sessions and Mani sir's team, the sound engineer, Muthu. Mani sir, mikka nandri. Grateful, indebted," she added

Venkat has dubbed for several actresses including Simran, Sneha, Jyothika, Nayanthara, Anushka Shetty and Kajal Aggarwal.