Christiano Ronaldo pulled out his cell phone and played his caller tune: Tujhse Naraaz Nahi Zindagi, from Shekhar Kapur's first film Masoom.
And just in case this wasn't enough to establish the Manchester United star's credentials as a Bollywood aficionado, he roped in his mother, introducing her as a big Bollywood fan.
Mom confirmed that like her, son Christiano too was Bollywood pe fida.
The lady at the receiving end of this pitch -- Bipasha Basu, during her Lisbon trip to compere the unveiling of the new Seven Wonders of the World -- was duly impressed.
The pair met again that evening at a night club. They danced, they clinched, they gazed into each other's eyes, they, according to the Web site perez hilton.com kissed.
John Abraham was not missed. Neither was Manchester native Gemma Atkinson, the English actress and regular in the oomph pages of men's magazines ranging from Arena and Maxim to FHM and Nuts, who has been romantically linked to Ronaldo and who, early last year, augmented her natural charms to a whopping size 36DD.
Atkinson, interestingly, hit the gossip columns not long ago for reportedly 'cheating' on beau Ronaldo with his ManU team-mate Alan Smith; thanks to the latest developments, the score now reads 1-1 as the game moved into extra time.
Speaking of extra time, the tabloids note Bipasha and Christiano reportedly left the nightclub together; the rest of the evening was their private time, into which we will not delve.
Bipasha, apparently enamored of the fact that Ronaldo is completely enamored of Bollywood, has promised to put together an actor's cut of her films, and other 'good Bollywood films', for the soccer star's edification. Jism, presumably, will top the list.
Not to introduce a sour note into what seems a promising romance, but this would be the same Christiano Ronaldo who, in October 2005, went to a Manchester police station where he was arrested by officers of the Metropolitan Police. Bipasha could look up that coverage on the Internet.
Meanwhile, Bipasha had this to say in The Hindustan Times this morning, clarifying her stand: 'Yes, it was me in the picture. It was taken at an opportune moment and has been taken out of context. Again, it looks like a case of irresponsible assumptions.'
Photograph: Getty Images
