Shilpa and Katrina will perform at IPL finale

Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty will join American
R&B sensation Akon as he sings his Grammy award winning “Smack That” at the
closing ceremony of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wanderers in
Johannesberg on Sunday (May 24) night. Organisers also said Katrina Kaif will
join a troupe of Indian and South African dancers led by award-winning
choreographer Shiamak Davar to perform the Oscar-winning A.R. Rahman song “Jai
Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”. The two actors will be the only ones performing
at the finale, ending widespread speculation here that a bevy of Bollywood
beauties would feature at the closing ceremony. Caribbean music legend Eddy
Grant will perform the ever popular “Walking on Sunshine” and his anti-apartheid
hit “Gimme Hope Jo’anna”, which became an anthem in the days when the white
minority government of South Africa strictly regulated everything from music and
song to social gatherings.

The five-week IPL will end on a high note for Shilpa performance-wise, but
this will be clouded by the fact that her Rajasthan Royals team has no hope of
retaining its champion status from the inaugural series last year.Other
highlights on the night will include a perfectly synchronised piece featuring
renowned percussionist Shivamani and a group of Indian and South African
drummers. Apart from the various musical acts, the crowd will also be introduced
to the Miss Bollywood IPL South Africa finalists, culminating with the crowning
of the winner of the beauty competition, who will get a guided tour through
Bollywood as one of her prizes.

This apart, 1,500 flying lanterns will be lit and released while a thrilling
pyrotechnics show using several thousand rounds of fireworks will light up the
Johannesburg skyline as final awards signal the end of an unprecedented cricket
event which was keenly taken up by locals, who also opened their hearts to the
thousands of Indians who came to watch the series.