Saina Nehwal, the badminton player, has addressed the recent buzz on social media regarding the fact that actress Parineeti Chopra doesn’t follow her back on Instagram — despite playing Saina in the biopic “Saina” released in 2021. Many were speculating if there was some kind of rift between the two.
In a recent interview with YouTuber Subhojit Ghosh, Saina mentioned that she didn’t really notice the follow/unfollow aspect of the interactions with Parineeti, nor did they impact her much because her focus on training, achieving success in tournaments and competing was all-consuming for her.
“We Never Were Friends” – Saina Nehwal
Saina clearly articulated it was strictly professional interactions she had with Parineeti during their time working together. She explained that there were very few times they would meet as part of preparing for Saina’s story and that each meeting was only about helping Parineeti prepare for the movie.
“I didn’t say that we were friends,” Saina stated referring to their conversations but that I simply described my story as an athlete and what it was like to be a professional badminton player to help her get into character for the movie.
Saina emphasized again that the nature of their limited interactions and solely work-related focus prevented them from becoming friends or from being close enough to follow each other on social media.
How Their Interaction Played Out?
As Saina describes it, their sessions are very brief and infrequent — usually lasting only one or two hours every two to three weeks. Most of this occurred with the film’s director in attendance. There were no social outings such as dinners or lunches that she remembers, and these did not exist in real life.
In addition, she pointed out that because of her very tight training schedule, she did not have much opportunity to socialize or create a connection (or rapport) outside the Saina movie project.
Professionalism over Emotions
Saina emphasized that she does not have any kind of personal emotion or disagreement with Parineeti regarding her comments on social media. She sees everything that has happened as two separate misunderstandings based on presumptions and does not think about it as something that implies anything deeper.
The badminton star also expressed that she has not thought much about what goes on with regard to Instagram followers because of how deeply she is entrenched in her job.
Biopic & Its Success
Parineeti was praised for her performance as Saina in Saina, but the film itself received mixed reviews. Saina depicts Saina’s journey to becoming a global superstar as a young woman playing badminton, and was released in 2021.
The big topic of conversation about Saina Nehwal’s and Parineeti Chopra’s relationship is the status of their relationship on social media and how it correlates with their friendship as an actress and friendships off-screen since, it’s been widely believed that they didn’t develop a close friendship off the movie set, until Saina clarified the relationship, calling it casual social media activity and saying there was no significant relationship. As of January 1, 2026, none of the two female celebrities has been following the other on Instagram—this was brought up in discussions about the relationship—Saina says this fact doesn’t carry much of any relevance except as casual social media activity.
