Actors Kartik Aaryan and Ananya Panday created quite the buzz when they were spotted out on a dinner date recently. But Kartik has now clarified that the two are not dating, but were simply hanging out.

“People say all sorts of things if we have lunch or dinner together. It was just one dinner. I find it strange to read such things about myself,” the Sonu Ki Titu Ki Sweety actor said at Agenda Aaj Tak.

Pictures of Kartik and Ananya, who will soon be making her Bollywood debut in producer Karan Johar’s Student of the Year 2, were widely shared online. The pictures showed Kartik and Ananya, both dressed casually, exiting a Mumbai restaurant and speeding away in their car, together.

Kartik has become an internet heartthrob after the box office success of Sonu Ki Titu… The actor recently made headlines when Kedarnath star Sara Ali Khan said on chat show Koffee with Karan that she’d want to date him. When he was asked about Sara’s comments, he said, “I don’t know what to say to that. All I can say is that she is very pretty and I am really looking forward to her film,” adding that he wouldn’t say no to a coffee date.

Kartik and Sara eventually met at a party, but because Sara’s father, actor Saif Ali Khan was present, Kartik said the meeting was ‘eco-friendly’.