She made her Bollywood debut last year with Vikram Bhatt’s Haunted 3D and went on to act in his Lanka. Now, as Tia Bajpai readies for the release of her third Bhatt production, 1920: Evil Returns, there are rumours of Tia and Vikram sharing ‘more than just an actor-filmmaker equation.’

Vikram isn’t amused. “Not again. She’s half my age,” says the filmmaker, who has been in relationships with actors like Sushmita Sen and Ameesha Patel.

“If something was happening, I would have been —like always — open about it. We are both single.”

Not many are aware that the actor changed her name from Twinkle to Tia at Vikram’s insistence.

But Vikram accepts that he has heard the murmurs of him being close to Tia. “People keep talking about something or the other. It doesn’t bother me.”

So what has made him sign Tia for back-to-back films? “She is a good actor. Plus, as a film company, we want a few homegrown talents. We had signed a three-film deal with Tia. It ends with 1920: Evil Returns.”