Kangana Ranaut slams Hrithik Roshan over viral 'we need to apologise' trend, says 'stop adding fuel to fire'

The long-simmering online exchange between Bollywood actors Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut has flared up once again, with Ranaut publicly hitting back at Roshan and asking him to stop what she described as "adding fuel to the fire" and embarrassing his partner, actor and musician Saba Azad.

The fresh spat began after a trend titled "We Need to Apologise to Hrithik" started gaining traction on social media, with several users linking it back to the actors' well-documented 2016 public feud. Reacting to the trend, Roshan cautioned against getting swept up in social media narratives without full context, indicating that he preferred to wait for facts before forming or sharing an opinion on the matter.

What Sparked The Latest Round Between Kangana And Hrithik

Ranaut's response followed soon after. She shared a news report about Roshan's reaction on her Instagram Stories, accusing him of not doing enough to speak out against individuals she claimed were trolling and harassing her while invoking his name in the process.

Kangana's Reply

In her note, Ranaut said she was glad that Roshan had found happiness in his relationship with Saba Azad, adding that the couple appeared well-suited to each other. At the same time, she urged him to refrain from what she called "teasing" her through his public remarks, arguing that such comments were unnecessarily prolonging the ongoing online tension between them. In her post, she wrote, "stop adding fuel to fire and embarrassing your partner," while also expressing hope that better judgment would prevail going forward.

Hrithik's Response To The Viral "Apology" Trend

Earlier the same day, Roshan had responded to an Instagram post by Freddy Birdy that suggested public opinion owed him an apology. Addressing the broader trend of shifting public sentiment online, Roshan wrote that "siding with 'A' just because you don't like 'B' anymore" reflected a larger, systemic issue within society, adding that he would rather wait for the appropriate context backed by facts before reacting further.

The renewed exchange between the two actors did not emerge in isolation. It followed a separate controversy involving Ranaut's remarks on student protests, which triggered a public back-and-forth between her and Saurav Das, spokesperson for the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). Responding to Ranaut's comments directed at him, Das referenced a joke from his friends, saying, "My friends told me, 'You look like a young Hrithik Roshan.'" He used the remark to suggest, in a lighter vein, that this physical resemblance may have been behind Ranaut's comments toward him.

This latest chapter adds to a long history of public friction between Roshan and Ranaut that dates back to 2016, when Ranaut had referred to him as her "silly ex" during a media interview at the time. Roshan had firmly denied that the two had ever been in a romantic relationship, a denial that eventually escalated into a prolonged legal and public dispute. That episode was marked by an exchange of legal notices, conflicting public statements from both sides, and various allegations involving emails and other claims, all of which received extensive media coverage in India at the time.