Oh man, ARR, what a fine mess you landed yourself in. Well, your fans will say, you were “led” into it, by a wily British-Pakistani anchor. Your foes, well, you know, they just need an excuse to accuse you of “disrespecting Hindu sentiments”. I’m not getting into the specifics, frankly you opened a door, a door that was firmly shut. Thing is, you’ve always been the unapproachable One, the mystic, tinkering away on your piano, cut off from outside noise, focused only on the sound inside your headphones and your head. The masterpieces that emanated from your Chennai studio, you kind of transcended your Hindi speaking barrier. You scored masterpieces from Mani Ratnam’s trilogy to Taal, to Maa Tujhe Salaam to Rockstar to Chaiya Chaiya and Vande Matraram, and Sir Andrew Webber’s Bombay Dreams and Slumdog Millionaire.

You were ARR, you had mastered both the local and the global stages — but with this one silly interview, you’ve opened the flood gates to an absolutely unnecessary dialogue, one which has the trolls, the “has beens” and the termites, all chiming in, seeking their five minutes of fame, attacking you, criticising you, accusing you of plagiarism.