My friend, the caterer

Shah Rukh Khan keeps his promise to Shilpa Shetty, hires her V8 gourmet chain to supply food to the RA.One unit.

Shah Rukh Khan believes in keeping his friends happy. While Arjun Rampal's proximity to SRK got him an important part in RA.One, wife Mehr Jesia bagged the IPL parties contract. Now it's Shilpa Shetty's turn to benefit from SRK's benevolence.

During a past conversation, Khan had enquired about her V8 gourmet chain of restaurants (which she co-owns with husband Raj Kundra), and promised La Shetty that when he shot for his home production in UK, he would get her company to supply food to the RA.One unit. He kept the promise.

The food served to the unit was delivered to the set everyday from V8's gourmet chain of restaurants in London.

A source says, "An elaborate menu was served to the unit everyday (including the chicken curry that Shilpa made famous during her stay in Big Brother's house in London). Andy Varma, Director of Food and Business Development for the food chain, specifically asked Shilpa about Shah Rukh and Kareena's food habits and created special menus for the stars. While Kareena had special vegetarian food, SRK would gorge on chicken tikka (his favourite)."

A source close to the actress maintains, "Shilpa never spoke to Shah Rukh. Karim Morani got in touch with Shilpa's husband Raj and finalised the deal. Even though the company specialises in Indian food, they also provided Continental food for the foreign unit. This is the first time they provided delicacies on such a large scale and for such a long period of time. Earlier, it was restricted to parties and weddings, but now they want to branch out to films being shot abroad too."

Shilpa Shetty acted in her first film Baazigaar opposite Shah Rukh Khan.

Shilpa Shetty's chicken curry for Shahrukh Khan

The cast and crew of Shahrukh Khan’s home production Ra.One will be licking their fingers during the meal breaks while shooting the film in London. For they will be served food especially delivered from the chain of restaurants owned by Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra in London.

Shahrukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor and the unit of Ra.One is ready to embark on the London shooting schedule and the contract for supplying Indian food to the cast and crew has been given to the restaurants of Shilpa and her hubby.

Several mouth watering delicacies will be served to the shooting unit, including the chicken curry that Shilpa made famous during her stay in Big Brother’s house in London.

We hear that Shahrukh insisted on providing the best Indian food to the crew during the London schedule and since he knows Shilpa quite well (they’ve worked together in Baazigar and own stakes in different IPL teams), he and his production team finalized food contract with Shilpa’s restaurants.

Shahrukh Khan at Shilpa Shetty's Wedding Reception - Pics

SRK's party for Late MJ's bro. Jermaine Jackson

Bollywood celebrities turned up in large numbers to attend a party that actor Shah Rukh Khan threw in honour of Jermaine Jackson, brother of Michael Jackson.

The late night party on Wednesday was attended among others by Shilpa Shetty and boyfriend Raj Kundra, Hrithik Roshan and Suzzane, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal, Amrita Arora and Malaika Arora, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh, Randhir Kapoor, Neelam, Dino Morea, Adnan Sami, and Sanjay Kapoor.

Jermaine is in India to lend his voice for a Jackson tribute song along with Adnan Sami.

Jermaine had on Tuesday visited the Amber fort in Jaipur along with Shilpa and Raj. They had reached Jaipur after visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra.

All's fair in love and cricket, says Shilpa

But match against friend Shah Rukh's team will be emotionally difficult for her

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty whose co-owned Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals faces her friend and superstar Shah Rukh Khan's team Knight Riders in Cape Town on Thursday (April 23), says "all's fair in love and cricket" despite it being a "difficult" match emotionally.

"We play on the 23rd in Cape Town against the Knight Riders, that will be a difficult one, not the match but the emotion... it's terrible to play against a friend's (Shah Rukh Khan) team but all's fair in love and cricket, I guess," Shilpa posted on her blog on Wednesday (April 22) from South Africa.

"Hope we have luck on our side this time... I've realised winning in this format (Twenty20) of the game has a lot to do with luck as well," she added.

Fans miss Bollywood at IPL opening

Where was the Bollywood entertainment or "taste of India" that the Indian Premier League had promised repeatedly in the run-up to the official opening of the tournament in Cape Town on Saturday (April 18) night?

That was the question on the lips of many Bollywood fans at the colourful ceremony at a packed Sahara Newlands Stadium here, as a host of artists entertained the crowd with items as diverse as traditional drums from both countries and circus acts from Europe entertained them.

But the closest sign of anything Bollywood or Indian on the field, besides the teams, was a tabla being played by a South African artist accompanying the traditional African dancers on their drums.

Even the music featured in all the entertainment items did not have any Bollywood music in it.

Fans did get repeated glimpses of Bollywood stars and team owners Shah Rukh Khan and Shilpa Shetty on the big screens during the two matches, including the disappointment on Shilpa's face as she watched, together with her mother and sister from the suites, how the chances of her Rajasthani Royals team defending its title slipped away from the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Shah Rukh was shown with his wife Gauri and their two children, at times Shah Rukh doting over his son as the latter made comments about the game.

But that was the closest that the fans got to see of Bollywood.

Off the field, there were very short interviews on television with the first two winners in the search to find the next new face of Bollywood from among South African girls.

The young women, identified by the interviewer only as Raeesa and Tasneem, both from Cape Town, just gave monosyllabic answers to the questions posed by him as they admitted to being Shah Rukh Khan fans and being "nervous" or "wow" about the possibility of starring in a movie with him.

A total of 50 winners will be chosen from the crowds at every one of the eight venues around the country that are to host IPL matches.

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 May 24. The ultimate winner will be announced during the final.

IPL fans worldwide will also be able to cast their votes for the winner via the IPL website.

Shah Rukh Khan and Arjun Rampal bond at IPL

While Shah Rukh Khan being present for the opening IPL match at Bangalore was a foregone conclusion, what surprised many at the stadium and those who were watching it on telly was the presence of Arjun Rampal.

The two actors have bonded well ever since they were seen in DON and OM SHANTI OM. While Arjun was also there for a guest appearance in KABHI ALVIDA NAA KEHNA, King Khan too obliged by appearing for a blink-and-you-would-miss performance in Arjun's home production I SEE YOU.

Now Arjun has extended his friendship with Shah Rukh Khan by supporting his KNIGHT RIDERS team which went on to win the inaugural match. While the two were quite demonstrative about their support for the team and were seen dancing and cheering aloud from their VIP stands, it was a star studded affair with Juhi Chawla, Shilpa Shetty and Gauri Khan too having fun during the proceedings.

A glam studded event, the first match in IPL has turned out to be a smash hit affair and one can expect many more star appearances like these in the matches to follow over the course of next 6 weeks!

Joginder Tuteja

Who looks best opposite SRK

Shah Rukh Khan, we hear, is hunting for a heroine for his latest film, Robot. Apparently, he wants an athletic actress in the Shankar-directed film, because the script demands so.

The SRK regulars -- Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji - are out. This, in spite of the fact that Preity seems to have lost a lot of weight recently.

The contenders for this role, so far, are Deepika Padukone,Shilpa Shetty and Priyanka Chopra.

SRK is keenly awaiting the audience reaction to Deepika, when she makes her debut opposite him in Om Shanti Om this Diwali. And that's why the shooting for Robot will begin only in December.

Priyanka has already proved her martial art skills in Farhan Akhtar's Don, opposite SRK.

Shilpa Shetty, who has starred in only one film with SRK - Baazigar and has tried her hand at action in films like Dus.

So lets make this easier for SRK. Who do YOU think would look best opposite King Khan in Robot? There's a good chance SRK may heed your wishes!

Kindly vote here: VOTE

Gullu Gupshup, Rediff