Dawn Images

The never-ending battle of egos between Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut is a perfect example of a star scandal fuelling an entire season’s worth of tabloid headlines, social media posts and memes.

Ranaut alleged that she and Roshan dated ever since Kites in 2009; He disputed this claim this and sent her a legal notice last year after she appeared to refer to him as a 'silly ex' in an interview. A public exchange of recriminations and accusations followed.

And it's far from over yet.

Four years since the feud started, Hrithik Roshan has finally released an official statement giving his two cents on the matter.

Calling the media coverage of their spat a "circus", he wrote in a lengthy statement on social media, "I don't see any grace in adding to this circus by testifying in defence of my character in a situation that I have no involvement in whatsoever."

His statement reads, "I have been dragged into a dirty perverse mess without a choice in the matter. This is something that is not of my making. The truth is, I have never met the lady in question one on one in my entire life. Yes, we have worked together, but there has been no meeting in private."

"An alleged 7-year long, passionate affair between two high profile celebrities with no trail left behind. No evidence, no paparazzi pictures, no witnesses, not even a memento in possession like a selfie taken at the alleged engagement which is claimed to have happened in Paris in Jan 2014. Nothing that constitutes an exchange or any sort of proof of a romantic relationship. Yet we want to believe the other party because the rhetoric is - why would a girl lie?"

He adds: "My passport details show no travel outside the country in Jan 2014, which is the date that this alleged engagement supposedly took place. In Paris. The only so-called proof presented of this alleged “relationship”, was a photoshopped picture in the media. This was immediately exposed, the very next day by friends including my ex-wife."

"There are 3000 one-sided mails which either I have sent to myself or the woman in question has sent to me. The Cyber-Crime Dept. can prove or disprove either story, in just a few days. Towards that purpose, I have surrendered all my devices including laptops / phones etc which are still lying with the cyber cell , but the other party has refused to do so. The investigation hasn’t been closed."

He wraps it up with "This is not, and I repeat, not a lovers spat. I humbly request people to stop labelling it as one and, for a second, try and see it for what it really is. I have been harassed by this for 4 years and the well meaning and probably necessary social bias toward women has deemed me helpless in defending myself."

Recently in an interview, Hrithik's father Rakesh Roshan also spoke about the quarrel saying that the complaint is now available in the public domain and that the "facts of the case will shock you."

Update: Since the Kaabil actor released his statement, Kangana's lawyer Rizwaan Siddiquee has refuted some of the things he spoke about, such as the lack of evidence of their alleged affair.

He said: "My client was dating Hrithik, who was a married man at that time. And the fact remains that Hrithik never allowed her to take any kind of pictures or keep any kind of data, which would suggest any kind of relationship, for a simple reason that he had to protect his image."

"Kangana has fully cooperated with the law and investigating agencies and Hrithik very well knew since May 2014 that Kangana’s emails were hacked and that he was personally accused of being the hacker. On what grounds did Hrithik go on receiving unverified emails from a hacked account and did not even bother to clear his name and image of being a hacker? He meticulously saved all these emails, which were fabricated and unreliable only to create a story for later use."

"Why has Hrithik always maintained that he was trying to protect Kangana all along? Why did he not bother to get these emails checked from her instead of using this against her? It’s a matter of record that till date, the emails have not been shown to my client or me as her counsel," he adds.