Saif Ali Khan's Natalie Portman joke comes back to bite him

The Hollywood actor sent Saif and his production company a "cease and desist" notice for falsely claiming movie role.

Bollywood actor thought it would make for a good promo for an upcoming project when he joked that he had signed Oscar nominee Natlie Portman. The punch line to the joke being that he has now been served a notice by lawyers, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday.

"He was obviously grinning from ear to ear when everyone picked the news about Natalie and there was a new round of speculations that started making the rounds. The biggest question was around how did he actually make this Bollywood-Hollywood collaboration happen, especially when so many other actors are said to be planning it without fail for years," an associate said, "Saif's phone was ringing day in and night out for the last couple of days but he chose to keep mum as this time around the amusement level took a different proportion."

However, before things boiled over further, he decided to calm the nerves of everyone coming out and saying "it was a joke, I am sorry", Saif smiled, "it's just that I am very annoyed with speculations on all the aspects of my life. If this goes on, I might just start making up stories like these to entertain myself. Hope people will understand that."

But that attempt to deflect media attention away from his personal life seemed to carry a blowback. As the news made it into the Hollywood rumour mill, the 41 year-old actor moved decisively.

Portman’s lawyers dialed up Saif Ali Khan and his production house Illuminati Films with a "cease and desist" legal notice warning the actor to stop using the actress' name in claims that are false and unfounded. Her lawyers also demanded an immediate public apology or risk further legal action.