Varun Dhawan, during a performance at the Nita Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) gala, picked up supermodel Gigi Hadid in his arms and gave her a peck on the cheek. This irked Twitterati who lashed out at Varun for picking Gigi up “without consent”.

Varun then issued a clarification on Twitter, “I guess today you woke up and decided to be woke. So lemme burst ur bubble and tell u it was planned for her to be on stage so find a new Twitter cause to vent about rather then going out and doing something about things. Good morning (sic).”

Gigi also took to Instagram and posted a photo from the event in her stories. She thanked Varun for “making her Bollywood dreams come true.” The actor also reshared the photo on his Instagram stories and wrote, “The sweetest and the cutest Gigi making my dreams come true.”

Apart from Gigi and Varun, other national and international stars like Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Nick Jonas, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Ranveer Singh and Shah Rukh Khan, among others, graced the NMACC gala.

The NMACC is a cultural space, recently inaugurated by the Ambanis, situated at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex. It consists of three performing arts spaces: the 2,000-seater Grand Theatre, the 250-seater Studio Theatre, and the 125-seater The Cube.