Fans thronged the Karama hotel in Dubai as Argentenian football icon Diego Maradona and dazzling Bollywood actor Mallika Sherawat opened a new branch of Chemmanur International Jewellers.

After making a difficult entry amid the huge crowd gathered, Maradona could only manage to say “No 1 Chemmanur Jewellers” before the photo session started, the Gulf News reports. Sherawat joined him a little later, and cut the ribbon.

“I love Dubai. Whenever I come to Dubai, I get such a warm reception and that makes me feel it’s all worth it. To know that they have waited for more than three hours in this heat – no one is more important to me than my fans,” Sherawat, who had just flown in to Dubai from the US, said.

On being asked about her meeting with US President Barack Obama during the Cannes festival, Sherawat expressed her extreme delight to have met the “most powerful man on the planet”.

“I feel really special because I am the first Bollywood celebrity who got this extraordinary privilege to meet the most powerful man on the planet just after he signed the warrant of the terrorist as we all know,” she added.

Sherawat will soon be seen in the film ‘Politics of Love’, a story revolving around a Democrat volunteer played by Sherawat who falls in love with an Afro-American presidential candidate.