ARâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088Rahman in an earlier performance in the city. Pic/Shadab Khan

Mozart of Madras, Beethoven of India — one runs out of epithets to express AR Rahman's artistry. He is not confined to genres. The 50-year-old created his own school of music (the Rahman sound). With every album, the composer takes pleasure in outclassing himself; he has no competitors. Even after a career spanning over two decades, the man remains an avant-garde. Recently, Rahman recreated one of his classics — Urvasi Urvasi (Kadhalan, 1994) — for the sixth season of MTV Unplugged. He crowd-sourced the lyrics (in Tamil) from fans through his social media page, and gave it a contemporary spin with references ranging from Donald Trump to demonetisation. As soon as the channel unveiled the song on Wednesday night, social media went berserk with 1.9 million views in just a few hours. Excerpts from a telephonic interview.