The new target of Salman Rushdie's affections is a 27-year-old Bollywood star. That puts her a full decade younger than his ex-wife Padma Lakshmi and more than three decades younger than the four-time married Rushdie who has pledged never to marry again.

Sir Salman Rushdie has struck up a close friendship with a glamorous young actress renowned for her risqué Bollywood roles. The 61-year-old author, whose novel Midnight’s Children was last week voted the best ever Booker prize-winning novel, has invited calendar pin-up Riya Sen, 27, to New York after meeting her in January.

Sir Salman, whose marriage to model Padma Lakshmi broke down last year, met Miss Sen through a mutual friend at a nightclub in Bombay. Since then, the pair are said to have been exchanging emails regularly, and friends of Miss Sen say that the author is ‘pursuing’ her. Miss Sen said: ‘We get on really well but we are just friends. I met him through a family friend.’

She confirmed she had been invited to New York but insisted: ‘No really, we are not an item.’ She added: ‘I have spoken to him a few times. I think when you are Salman Rushdie, you must get bored with people who always want to talk to you about literature. We didn’t talk about any of that.’

I would have guessed when you're Salman Rushdie, you must get bored talking to beautiful women less than half your age.