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Indian Express

Priya Prakash Varrier recalls facing hatred after viral wink: ‘People felt I gained overnight what others worked years for'

There's no other expression better than 'an overnight sensation' to describe Priya Prakash Varrier's foray into the spotlight. Just an aspiring actor till the previous day, Priya's life changed dramatically on February 9, 2018, with the release of the video song 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' from director Omar Lulu's Oru Adaar Love, which was under production at that time. Her playful wink at the character Roshan Abdul Rahoof played won over millions of netizens' hearts, and the 18-year-old actor became a national crush almost instantaneously. Her popularity grew to such heights that Oru Adaar Love's makers reportedly changed the entire storyline to bring her character, who initially did not have much prominence, to the centre of the narrative, thus even sidelining the actual female lead character. However, like any other trend, it took Priya Prakash Varrier too quite some time to shake off its lingering aftereffects and break free from it. Although she received opportunities to work in various major film industries in the country, including Bollywood, the actor recently admitted that the sensational wink, albeit beneficial for her at first, indeed affected her career as it created a sense of hatred towards her for many. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEO Mentioning that a false perception about her had formed among the public from the very beginning, Priya Prakash Varrier stated that this resulted in people feeling hostility towards her. Maintaining that this eventually snowballed into hatred, she revealed that this caused a shift in the attitude of both the industry and the general public towards her. Watch Priya Prakash Varrier's 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' song here: 'Somewhere along the way, a preconceived notion was created about me that I am unapproachable, have an attitude, or demand a high remuneration. It might have stemmed from the hostility that came as part of the 'wink sensation'. People felt that I had achieved overnight what others struggled for years to attain. So naturally, questions like 'what did she do to get that?' or 'does she even deserve it?' started coming up, leading to a general sense of resentment against me. I can understand that,' she said during a chat with Cue Studio. The actor added, 'But over time, that resentment turned into hatred. No matter what I did, that negativity persisted, and eventually, it began affecting my career. It might have slowly influenced how people and the industry saw me as well.' Last seen in director Adhik Ravichandran's Ajith Kumar -starrer Good Bad Ugly (2025), Priya Prakash Varrier is awaiting the release of Abbas–Mustan's 3 Monkeys in which she has played a key role alongside Arjun Rampal.