ROTTERDAM - Screaming fans from across Europe showered flowers, notes and trinkets as Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan performed at Ahoy, Rotterdam's large cultural and sports complex, to launch the world premiere of Temptations Reloaded, a live song and dance show that saw a number of Indian stars descend on the city on Saturday night.

Shah Rukh performed on stage with Bollywood favourites like Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor in an auditorium with a capacity of 25,000 before a mixed audience of Asians and Europeans.

In between the two-and-half-hour long show, Shah Rukh and Arjun Rampal drove through the aisles of the auditorium in light vehicles and the venue echoed with the adoring screams of fans, some of whom showered them with trinkets, flowers and notes.

Some European fans were dressed in Indian clothes and referred to the Bollywood superstar as the 'Saudagar of Sunshine'. And Dutch fans preferred to watch Shah Rukh instead of the Euro 2008 football champion semi-finals between Holland and Russia played around the same time.

In a continent starved of warmth for most parts of the year, King Khan is called 'sunshine' by his fans here.

Ignoring weather forecasts that had predicted clouds and rainfall, fans travelled from all over Europe to witness the live performance.

With stars in their eyes, cine buffs arrived here under clear blue skies to watch the midsummer night performance and to sigh that the mere presence of Shah Rukh Khan makes clouds part.

"Shah Rukh Khan is our sunshine! When he is close to us, the worst day becomes bright. He fills my life with light and warmth," an Indian female fan said rubbishing weather forecasts.

"Bollywood makes you happy" is the slogan for marketing popular Indian cinema in Europe, suggestive of the fact that Hindi movies create a state of emotional well-being that goes far beyond mere entertainment.

This is the reason for a dramatic increase in Bollywood fan communities on this continent whose activities revolve mostly around Shah Rukh Khan and his work.

"Bollywood makes European audiences happy because the films are like life seen in dreams," Ségoléne Roudot, a French fan who is researching fans of Indian cinema in France, said.

Colours, costumes, music, dance and Shah Rukh's charismatic screen presence have brought much joy into many lives here.

An online Swiss fan forum has a special web page filled with thank you notes to Shah Rukh for coming to Europe. The notes thank the superstar for the colour that he brings into lives and for being the light for fans in the dark.

"Such feelings become stronger at the possibility of a meeting with Shah Rukh Khan. The desire is to touch him in an attempt to experience some more of the joy and happiness that he radiates," Elke Mader, a professor of Vienna University who monitors the behaviour of non-South Asian fans of Shah Rukh Khan for Bollyglobal, a research project, told IANS.

Mader gives the example of Christina Zück, a Berlin-based artist who has publicly confessed that her life was magically transformed after she touched Shah Rukh at the Berlin Film Fesival of 'Om Shanti Om' earlier this year.

"The experience of fans like Christina goes beyond admiring Shah Rukh Khan as a movie star. Shah Rukh is seen much more than just an entertainer here. He is happiness and love personified. Fans want to touch him and to talk to him because he is able to transfer a lot of joy to those who are lucky enough to cross his path," Mader said

Hosted by Netherland's Sekier Entertainment Service, the next European stop of Temptations Reloaded, a sequel to the 'Temptations' tour Shah Rukh started in 2004, is Berlin.

Founded in 1999 by Ishaq Sekier, a Dutchman originally from an Indian family from Surinam, with an evening of songs by Manna Dey, the entertainment service has since sponsored Sonu Nigam, Udit Narayan, Alka Yagnik, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, Shreya Ghosal, Kavita Krishnamurti, KK and Jagjit Singh here.

LONDON: British actress Keira Knigtley's mother Sharman MacDonald is fine with her daughter doing love scenes.

Sharman is an acclaimed playwright and screen writer. The mother and daughter worked together on 'The Edge of Love', which features a few erotic scenes, reports thesun.co.uk.

“She is playing a character so it doesn't feel weird watching her in 'The Edge of Love'. It's never been like watching my daughter in any of her pieces because she inhabits the character," Sharman said.

The film adaptation, based on the popular American Girl dolls, stars Abigail Breslin as the titular Kit. It opens in limited release June 20 and expands nationwide July 2.

American Girl aficionado Isabella Rhodes, a 7-year-old, Brooklyn-based second grader, hit the Manhattan premiere Thursday night to grill the cast about dolls, dogs, and tree houses:

•Producer Julia Roberts on going behind the scenes: "It's fun. It's challenging, but we got really good actors. We were very lucky." When she was a kid in Georgia, Roberts preferred the written word to the big screen: "I loved Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, but it was really more books. I didn't watch a lot of movies. I read a lot of books."

•Abigail Breslin on being an American Girl: "The most fun thing about making the movie was getting on the set. Everyone was so nice to work with. Also, I liked coming on set and working with the dog and the monkey. It was really cool in the tree house. It was cool to learn how to climb up the ladder and get into the tree house. Everyone was so nice to work with. We always hung out after work."

Jane Krakowski, who plays the film's dance instructor, on learning the film's cool moves: "I enjoyed it because I do dance in real life. What was fun about this one was that I had to learn the dances of the time period. I learned how to Charleston and Jitterbug — dances that were popular back then."

Chris O'Donnell, who plays Breslin's dad, had one highlight from filming: "It was when I got to have my daughter, Lily (who's 8), visit on set. It was a great daddy-daughter weekend. I've had a very good experience playing a father in real life, and it was fun to be Abigail's dad on screen."

Courtesy: usatoday.com

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan has expressed pained surprise at the contradictory reviews his latest film Sarkar Raj has elicited.

"One critic will trash a film and give very articulate and logical reasons. Fair enough, but the very next critic praises the film and will quote the very instances the earlier had mentioned, as being the reasons for its success," Amitabh wrote on his blog www.bigb.bigadda.com.

In reaction to this, film critic Ziya Us Salam said: "Every critic has his own readership; it is wrong to paint all critics with the same brush."

On being asked to react to Amitabh's statements, a few critics said the actor should not have been so aggressive while writing about them.

Amitabh also complained that the media did not appreciate the recent change in his demeanour.

He wrote: "When one is humble, the complaint is you do not open up, your interviews are so predictable, politically safe and correct. Now that there is no perceived humbleness the refrain is: why are you so aggressive?"

In response to this, Saurabh Tankha, a senior editor with a Delhi based daily, said: "Actors do not come and thank us when we do a positive review; then why should they feel bad when a negative review is done?"

The actor is evidently atached to the film that's a bit of a family affair - it stars him, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya. He wrote in his bog that he found the diversity of reviews intriguing.

Amitabh believes the media industry has an unwritten code of conduct.

"They will not attack competition and not name a fellow journalist even if he belongs to the same or a rival organisation. Of late though I find a greater openness, a willingness to criticise and a desire to counter an opinion or stand taken by another in the fraternity," the actor wrote.

In response to Amitabh's comment on how journalists would not attack one another, Tankha said: "It is a fact; that is the way it is; there is no need to be judgmental about it."

Ziya added: "Amitabh is right in saying that the media does not attack each other, we have a certain level of dignity, but I don't see any reason for him to react violently."