Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra
Alia Bhatt and Sidharth MalhotraVarinder Chawla

Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt have lately been open about their 'friendly' equation but the dating rumours seem to have irked the "Ek Villain" actor.

Talking to The Times of India/ Bombay Times, Sidharth said he has been hanging out with Alia often adding there's nothing new about it. "We don't know how it all started. Alia and I have been hanging out with each other way before. She is my first co-star and Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and I would spend lot of time together. It's not something that has happened suddenly," he said.

He also said the link-up rumours published on dailies and web portals are only as much as 50 % true. "Whatever you read is not necessarily true. There is 50 per cent chance that the news is incorrect. The ones who have to believe, believe, the rest don't," he concluded.

The "Highway" actress too appeared amused when she was asked about her growing closeness with Sidharth. She reportedly said hanging out with friends shouldn't be made into a big deal, adding that she will not discuss her personal life at a red carpet event.

However, ahead of the release of "Hasee Toh Phasee", the suave actor said he was attracted to Alia while shooting "Student of the year" adding that she was a star and had a great future. "She is damn funny and is very entertaining. Alia has that airplane mode, where she gets network and does not get network at times. She goes into her own world and is very comfortable with emotion," TOI quoted him as saying.

On work front, Sidharth is gearing up for "Brothers" alongside Akshay Kumar and Jacqueline Fernandez, while Alia will be seen romancing Shahid Kapoor in "Shaandar".