In a rare and unfiltered four-hour chat with podcaster Raj Shamani, former Kingfisher Airlines chief Vijay Mallya – still wanted on fraud charges in India finally spoke out after nice years of silence. The podcast, which dropped on Thursday, saw Mallya open up about everything from his controversial departure to his surprising willingness to return if given a “fair trial and dignified existence.”

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Social media is split wildly

From the moment the interview went live, the online world erupted. Some are applauding Mallya for exposing the government, especially after his sharp remarks about the Finance Ministry and his claims of settling dues. Others, however, are calling out his comments on returning to India, arguing that clearing debts doesn’t absolve him of legal scrutiny.

Heartfelt messages from ex-Kingfisher staff and fiery debates from the public

One Kingfisher’s former employee poured out gratitude and pain on X: “Thank you for coming ahead and saying sorry to the Kingfisher employees. I am amongst those people who were working without salary in KFA till it breath last. Even after that handling your personal flight in Delhi hoping that KF will be back. My one year salary is pending on you.” The post is a raw reminder of the human cost behind the headlines.

Meanwhile, another user fired back at the system: “The system never talks about its bribery. They only want politics, those who are talking have themselves eaten thousands of crores. They were spreading a lot of rumours in your name, now they have got the answer.”

A third listener, after watching the entire podcast, weighed in: “I really went through all the podcast and I finally probably here can say that u r truly a bait to the governments all along the way and the blunders caused it was from businesses so I really do appreciate u for being too honest and thriving the proofs to the people.”

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Additionally, one more tweet emerged saying, “If Vijay change his surname from Mallya to Modi Patel Ambani, he would have lived like king in India with politicians bootlicking him every now n then.”

But not everyone is convinced. Many users remain unconvinced by Mallya’s remarks and have called out what they perceive as a public relations exercise aimed at whitewashing his past.

An X user tweeted, “I dont like this vijay mallya whitewashing programme which is going on – this is the problem with humans (Indians in particular) you tell them anything with a soft bg music and they will start feeling bad for the person mallya is a fraud treat him like that don’t give into PR.”

One critic questioned: “If everything was so accurate, why leave India? You should have stayed and faced trial. Madhav Mishra, please take his case again and start the trial!”

And another user wrote, “What a shameless cowardly crook Vijay Mallya, doing sick PR. Says he is ‘sorry’ his employees did not get paid for months, while he ran away with million$ to live in luxury, debauchery in England.”