Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan seems to have gotten himself into a bit of a pickle. The actor recently withdrew a comment in which he’d informed the media that his upcoming project featured Hollywood diva Natalie Portman, stating that it was nothing but a “joke”.

After the success of his latest production Cocktail, Saif was quoted in the press saying that his next venture was slotted to be a love story starring the Black Swan actress:“A love story we are working on … It’s a secret … We are doing a film with Natalie Portman.”

However, this week it emerged that the actor did not mean for his comments to be taken seriously. Being constantly hounded by the press, Saif assumed his far-fetched revelations would be taken with a pinch of salt. The 41-year-old said: “It was a joke, I am sorry. It’s just that I am very annoyed with speculations on all 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.”

Saif, a favourite with the Indian paparazzi, has been in the news whether it is for his films or for the unconfirmed nuptials planned with beau and Bollywood top actress Kareena Kapoor.

A source close to the actor revealed: “Saif is plain amused to see so much being said and written about his personal life as well as certain career decisions. Right from being married off to Kareena every second month to the newer dates being announced to the questions coming his way about playing a lover boy to actually getting some of the biggest successes whenever he has wooed his girls on screen, Saif is finding himself in the thick of things. It was one such moment when a journalist asked him about his future plans and Saif decided to have some fun.”

Despite the quip regarding Natalie Portman’s presence being meant as a little bit of harmless fun, it has been speculated that Saif offered the apology after being handed a “cease and desist” legal notice from Portman’s lawyers. However, an anonymous source reveals: “That’s untrue. None of this has happened and there has been no communication whatsoever from Natalie or anyone else in her team. In the clarification, when he said ‘sorry,’ it was to all his fans and followers who had actually believed what was being written. However, some people misconstrued it as a reaction to the (non-existent) notice from Natalie. Again, this is wrong information. A lot is being made out of nothing.”