Varun on being linked to Alia: “Alia is a friend of mine”

With fabulous chemistry on screen, rumours about the relationship between Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt have been doing the rounds for many months but to end all speculation, Dhawan has confirmed they are just good friends.

Dhawan told Hindustan Times that he’s not at all bothered by the rumours and that he’s happy being able to work with Bhatt. “It’s all good [between me and Alia]. Alia and I have worked together [in multiple films], and we enjoy working with one another. I did my first film with her and we recently shot our third film together (Badrinath Ki Dulhania; BKD). So, it’s all nice and it’s always lovely working with her. People enjoy watching us together, which is the most important thing. At the end of the day, Alia is a friend of mine.”

During their time shooting for ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ (2017) in Singapore, rumours circulated about their “relationship” after Dhawan and Bhatt were spotted having lunch together. Of course knowing these were rumours, it was this one that had “bothered” Bhatt more so. The ‘Dilwale’ (2016) actor also felt the same. “Yes, it was very upsetting for me too. And it’s purely due to the fact that Alia and I were working extremely hard [in Singapore] on the film. We were conscious about the fact that we were pairing up for the third time, and so, we were like, ‘we should do something novel and unique’.”

The ‘Dishoom’ (2016) star further added, “And when these things [such rumours] come in, sometimes, it makes your work look frivolous. It makes people say things like, ‘yaar, yeh log yahi kar rahein hain (these two are just messing around)’. It got irritating at that point, but now, it’s fine. It’s part and parcel of being an actor, and you also take such things with a pinch of salt,” says Varun. The actor adds that he is “completely disconnected” right now about “who is saying what or who is writing what.”