The Urvashi Rautela-Rishabh Pant saga was quite the rage on social media last month. It all started when the actor said a certain “RP” had to be kept waiting for hours to meet her, and what followed were cryptic posts and online spats between the two. However, Rautela has now broken her silence on the matter. She tells us: “RP is my co-star, Ram Pothineni (Telugu actor). I wasn’t even aware that Rishabh Pant is known as RP.”

The Pagalpanti (2019) actor adds that half of the things being said and written are assumption-based: “The ones believing such news, I’d say, need to analyze. If you have not seen anything, how can you believe it?”

Rautela, 28, not only became the centre of memes, a section of social media users even called her a stalker, claiming she followed Pant, 25, to Australia before the T20 World Cup. Recalling all the mockery, she says, “We see comparisons being made that cricketers have way more respect or that they earn more than actors. That bothers me a lot. I understand they play for the country, but actors also represent the country. I don’t like these silly comparisons.”

Memes aside, clips of cricket fans shouting hers and Pant’s names at the stadium also did the rounds online. This, she says, is worrisome. “Anybody who is representing the country needs to be respected. People can’t treat them like a commodity. It’s an invasion of privacy and I don’t appreciate it,” she asserts.

Actor Urvashi Rautela and cricketer Rishabh Pant are currently taking jibes and digs at each other, with Rautela’s recent post calling Pant a “cougar hunter”. Rautela recently put up a post that read, “Chotu bhaiya should play bat ball. Main koi munni badnaam nahi hoon badnam hone with young kiddo darling tere liye (sic).” She even added hashtags #RPChotuBhaiyya, #DontTakeAdvantageOfASilentGirl and #CougarHunter, which baffled many internet users.

The Pagalpanti (2019) actor’s post was in response to Pant’s now deleted Instagram story. “It’s funny how people lie in interviews just for some meagre popularity and for hitting the headlines. Sad how some people are so thirsty for fame and name. May God bless them,” Pant had posted using hashtags like #merapichachorhoBehen and #Jhutkibhilimithotihai.

It all started after Rautela, 28, claimed in an interview with Bollywood Hungama that a person, named RP (she refused to share the name) once waited for her for hours at a hotel lobby. Rautela said, “So, Mr RP came to the hotel lobby and wanted to meet. Ten hours passed and I fell asleep. I couldn’t attend any calls and when I woke up I saw 16-17 missed calls and I felt so bad that someone was waiting for me and I couldn’t meet them. I told him we’ll meet when you come to Mumbai. We met in Mumbai but a huge drama happened with the paps and all.”

Reportedly, Rautela, in the past, had claimed that she once dated the 24-year-old cricketer only for him to deny it and block her on social media. The two were once spotted together in Mumbai.

We reached out to Rautela, but she didn’t respond till the time of going to press.