Actor Esha Gupta, in a recent interview with Siddharth Kannan, addressed long-standing speculations about her past connection with Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya. The rumours, which first surfaced around 2018, suggested that the two were in a romantic relationship. Seven years later, Gupta cleared the air. She said, “Yeah, for some time we were talking. I don’t think we were dating, but yeah, we were talking for a couple of months. We were at that ‘maybe it will happen, maybe it won’t’ stage. It ended before we even reached the dating stage.” The Raaz 3 actor explained that their brief interaction consisted of a few conversations and rare meetings, but it faded before evolving into anything formal. When asked if something more could have developed, Esha remarked that the timing was off and their personalities did not align. She added, “It’s not that there was something lacking in him or me — we were just very different. And in a month or two, even he realised I wasn’t his type, and I realised he wasn’t mine.” What followed, and why it stayed in headlines Esha also reflected on the controversial 2019 Koffee With Karan episode, where Pandya and KL Rahul’s remarks caused public backlash. She shared that the incident did not affect her personally. She noted, “By then I had become stronger. I didn’t feel like reacting. They were already facing enough.” Interestingly, she had been among the few voices who publicly criticised the tone of the show, especially for its portrayal of women. Explaining why she seeks emotional grounding over stardom, Gupta said, “More than the limelight, I like family and real life... I can’t deal with waking up every morning and thinking, ‘Oh my God,’ and my husband and I praising ourselves for how good-looking we are—I can’t handle that.” Pandya later married Natasa Stankovic. The couple, who share a son, Agastya, separated in 2024.