Jun 12, 2023
By: Katya NaiduWant to know what the most commonly used words in Hindi songs are? The Tanzanian siblings Kili and Neema Paul – who have taken TikTok by storm with their videos lip-syncing to Hindi songs – will tell you it’s dil (heart) and paani (water). No prizes for guessing there.
Credit: Kili-Paul-Instagram
These two words are among the few that the siblings living in rural Tanzania picked up – as they enthralled audiences worldwide with their short videos and built up a following of over 2 million on TikTok. Neema Paul told BBC that they don’t know much Hindi, barring a few words.
Credit: Kili-Paul-Instagram
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too took note of their popularity — he mentioned them in his Mann ki Baat, a radio programme in February. “Our mother tongue also shapes our lives,” Modi said adding young people should follow in the footsteps of the Paul siblings, and learn regional languages too.
Credit: BCCL
Kili started making the videos himself in 2021, and later roped in his sister. They belt out popular Bollywood songs including Ranbir Kapoor’s Channa Mereya and also paid tribute to India’s Nightingale, Lata Mangeshkar with Jaane Kya Baat Hai.
Credit: IANS
The siblings were recently honoured by the Indian High Commission in Tanzania, and Kili thanked his many Indian fans for the same.
Credit: Kili-Paul-Twitter
The siblings, who are in their early 20s, hail from a village called Minu Tulieni. They belong to a pastoral ethnic group called Maasai. They farm and tend to cattle, but the internet changed the lives of the young farmer after he discovered Instagram Reels and TikTok.
Credit: Kili-Paul-Instagram
The Paul siblings have access to the internet but their village has no electricity, and sometimes they have to travel to another village to charge their phones.
Credit: Kili-Paul-Instagram
After their videos went viral, they did receive offers to make promotional videos. “I got money to buy a new phone,” Kili told BBC in the interview.
Credit: BBC
Kili also lip-syncs to popular Bollywood dialogues and sometimes posts videos with his killer dance moves. “Will do every song until there are no more songs to do, every dance challenge until there are no more challenges to do,” he told his Indian fans.
Credit: Kili-Paul-Twitter