Daily Times

Amid the link-up speculations of the two, Indian bass player Mohini Dey termed music maestro AR Rahman a ‘father figure’ in her life.

For the unversed, Mohini Dey, who was a bassist in AR Rahman’s band for over eight long years, announced her separation from her husband Mark Hartsuch, last Tuesday, hours after the Oscar-winning musician and his wife Saira Banu ended their marriage of 29 years.

The timeline of events gave rise to unnecessary speculations and netizens accused Dey of being the reason behind Rahman and Banu’s divorce, confirmed in a joint statement released via their lawyer Vandana Shah.

Although Dey had previously issued a clarification against these claims, urging people not to spread false rumours, she has now turned to her Instagram handle with a video message, requesting rumour-mongers to be sensitive, kind and respect the privacy of all parties involved.

Dey, 28, also clarified in the clip that she is exactly the age of Rahman’s daughter and he is just ‘like a father’ to her. “I have a lot of father figures, role models in my life and I’ve been really fortunate and grateful to have had them play vital roles in my upbringing. AR happens to be one of them,” she said. “By AR, I mean AR Rahman.”

“I respect him a lot. He is just like my father. He is actually a little bit younger than my dad. His daughter is exactly my age, I think. We have a lot of respect and love for each other,” added the musician.

“I worked with him in his band as his bassist for eight and a half years until five years ago, I moved to the US and I associated myself with other pop artists in the US. I have my own band as well and my own music that I tour with,” she explained. “Anyway, long story short. Please be kind and respect our privacy. It’s a personal matter, and it’s painful. It’s a painful process. So please be kind,” concluded Dey.