Dino Morea rubbishes rivalry with John Abraham: He didn't take Bipasha Basu away from me

Actor Dino Morea talks about his supposed rivalry with John Abraham, and his breakup with actor Bipasha Basu in the early 2000s.

After years of being in Bollywood, actor Dino Morea has opened up about the perception around rivalry between him and actor John Abraham. Dino says there is a narrative that John stole his former girlfriend Bipasha Basu from him, clarifying that it is false. (

Dino Morea was in a relationship with Bipasha Basu from 1996 to 2002.

In an interview with Siddharth Kanan on his podcast, Dino clarified about the so-called rivalry, saying that he was not in a relationship with Bipasha when she started dating John.

No place for animosity

When asked about the supposed bad blood between the two, Dino said, “We never had any rivalry. We used to talk to each other and have fun with each other. The talk about the rivalry between us started in people’s minds after I broke up with Bipasha, and he started dating Bipasha. People assumed he started dating my girlfriend, so there was a rivalry. The media also fuelled this. People thought ke ismein masala hai (it's spicy)." (Read: Dino Morea on not wanting to be a single father and having kids via surrogacy, adoption: 'I need a partner')

“But there has never been any rivalry. We both have been on our own paths. Only yesterday, I texted him, ‘Are we going for a bike ride or a coffee?’ I don’t think we have a rivalry,” he asserted , adding that he is happy to see John's growth in Bollywood.

Most recently, John was applauded for his role in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan. He said he is happy with how things have turned out for John. That's because it breaks the perception that “models can't act”, as he points out “it proved that models can act, and films with models can be a hit”.

How the rivalry buzz started

As per Dino, the rumours around trouble between the actors sparked off when John started dating Bipasha. Dino was in a relationship with Bipasha from 1996 to 2002. Bipasha was in a very public relationship with John from 2002 to 2011.

He mentioned that there is no awkwardness between them., as he shared, “Me and Bipasha broke up, and almost one year after that, they started dating. I had started dating somebody else. So, why would there be any animosity or awkwardness? People thought that John took my girlfriend, but it was nothing like that. The three of us used to talk, it was that simple… but people made it into something else”. 

About his breakup with Bipasha

Talking about his relationship with Bipasha, Dino revealed that they were introduced by a common friend, and hit it off instantly. He called his relationship with her great. The actor added that they had a good impact on each other. 

Here, Dino revealed that the two broke up during the shoot of Raaz. Referring to it as the tough phase, he mentioned, “When we were working on Raaz, we were more or less over in terms of relationship. It was very difficult. But after Raaz when we did Gunaah that was the toughest time because we were breaking up, it was over.”

He added, “It was really tough. It was damn tough. We just moved in separate directions. But now we are fantastic friends.”

Now, Bipasha is married to Karan Singh Grover, with whom she shares a daughter, Devi.