SRK will pick heroine at IPL

If you are South African with an undeniable star quality, then Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty are looking for you. The Miss Bollywood SA competition has been launched to find a new South African starlet for Bollywood.

THE winner of the contest will get 50,000 Rands in cash, a business class trip to India and even a Bollywood movie role, among other prizes. This announcement was made by IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi and the Bollywood band of stakeholders comprising SRK, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty.

Shah Rukh said, “Star searches like this are a really great way to find people who may never even have thought that they have what it takes to really make it big. The heart of our idea is to search the crowd at IPL matches for someone who has the attitude and appearance that automatically draws the eye. It will be the kind of person who is not necessarily showing off for the camera, but who can mesmerize even total strangers.”

The IPL matches are being played in Cape Town, East London, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Johannesburg and Pretoria. A total of 50 winners will be chosen from the crowds at each of the eight venues. Winners will be shown on the big screen at every match during the second five-minute break.

There will be one finalist per match, identified with the help of TV producers who will have cameras scanning the crowds. One finalist from each venue will be chosen, leaving eight winners to be hosted and feted at The Wanderers in Johannesburg at the final of the IPL 2009 tournament on 24 May. The ultimate winner will be announced during the final. Even IPL fans worldwide can choose the winner by voting for her on the official IPL website.

This is not the first time Shah Rukh is looking for pretty girls. He launched a reality show called Knights and Angels through which six cheerleaders were chosen for his Kolkata Knight Riders team. Sanna, Sanyukta, Ritika, Rupali, Ananya and Sunanda were chosen from 24 participants and are now in South Africa.

The five-week Twenty20 extravaganza kicks off on Saturday, April 18.