26 Nov - Indian bassist Mohini Dey recently expressed ire over rumours linking her to music legend AR Rahman, after they both coincidentally confirmed their respective divorces from their spouses in the same week. On 25 November, the musician, who has worked with Rahman on various occasions, posted a video explaining that she thinks of Rahman as a father figure, seeing that the composer is not that much younger than her own father. "It is utterly unbelievable to see the amount of misinformation and baseless assumptions/claims against me & [AR Rahman]. It feels criminal that the media has vulgarised the two events. I honour my times as a kid working with [Rahman] throughout my 8.5 years of working with him for his movies, tours, etc. It's disheartening to see that people have no respect, sympathy or empathy towards emotional matters like this," she expressed.
Mohini stated that she has lots of role models and father figures in her life, including Rahman, whom she said gave her the freedom to shine in his shows and his musical arrangements during recording sessions. "Media/Paps do not understand the affect it has on people's minds and lives. Be sensitive. I don't owe anyone any explanations but also, I don't want this to brew and interrupt my day so, kindly stop with the false claims & respect our privacy," she added. Last week, Mohini announced that she and her husband Mark Hartsuch have ended their marriage. The news came not long after Rahman's wife Saira Banu revealed that she and the composer were ending their 29 years of marriage.