Media reports that Ram Gopal Varma and Urmila Matondkar are back together have the filmmaker and the actress seething, with both saying they had never stopped working with each other.

Says Urmila: "When have I declared that I won't be working with Ramuji? So where's the question of being 'together again'? We've done a number of films together. Journalists who are writing we're 'coming together' after 'Bhoot' two years ago, haven't even got their facts right. My last film for Ram Gopal Varma productions was 'Ek Hasina Thi', which released in January 2004.

"I think the writers need to get their facts right before they put two and two together. As for working with Mr Varma again... yes, there's a project which is being worked out. But it's too early to talk about it. Of course I'll work for him if I like my role. Why shouldn't I take up challenging roles when they come my way?"

Pausing for breath Urmila continues, "The trouble is, I'm not generally accessible to the press. When a film needs to be promoted, as is the case now ('Naina' is around the corner), some journalists use that as an excuse to muscle into my life and ask me questions about me that seem to be bothering them much more than me."

Varma seems to have an identical complaint.

"The press persons came to me to interview me about my new film 'D'. Then they casually slipped in a question about Urmila and highlighted it in the papers."

He adds: "What's the big hoo-ha about Urmila working with me again? We've worked together in a number of films, and we'll continue to do so. It's the media which manufactured a special friendship, then a rift and now a rapprochement between us. We've always been working together, and we'll continue to do so."

Varma confirms that another project with Urmila is being planned by his company. "My writer is working on it. It's a very interesting idea. But it's too early to say when we'll start shooting. It isn't as though Urmila has been deliberately left out of our projects. She hasn't been in any of our recent films because she doesn't suit them. Now when we're ready to cast her, we'll do so. As simple as that!"

Varma's parting shot -- "A lot of people seem to believe I've made 'Naina' (the new Urmila starrer) simply because the film looks like a supernatural thriller and because there's so much about me in the interviews about the film."