Mumbai: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who is in New Zealand for his Temptation Reloaded tour, was welcomed by the country's Prime Minister John Key in Auckland. The 47-year-old actor was given a traditional Maori welcome on October 2 and presented with an official New Zealand Black Caps cricket shirt in recognition of his love of the game. Shah Rukh thanked his hosts and talked about his previous visit to the country some 12 years ago. He said his son would be thrilled with the Black Caps shirt as he is a big fan.
"The Honourable PM Mr John Key gave us such a warm welcome. Thank you all on behalf of Temptation in Auckland, and also to Judith and Todd. Rehearsals on still. Had too much fun... Honey Singh did his rap for all of us. Too much fun with Madhuri, Rani and Jaqueline," SRK tweeted. The "Chak De India" star will perform with stars like Madhuri Dixit, Rani Mukerji, Jacqueline Fernandez, Yo Yo Honey Singh and Meiyang Chang on Friday as part of the tour. The actor also recalled the last time he performed in Auckland. "In Auckland how pretty is this place! Now onto rehearsals and stuff. Was so many years ago I performed here... Very different and new," he added.
Madhuri also took to Twitter to share her excitement about the tour. "Can't express how much I am enjoying the Auckland show. The crowd here rocks!! Thanks guys #temptationreloaded," Madhuri tweeted. New Zealand and India have a co-production agreement and in recent years two Indian productions, "I Hate Luv Storys" and "Players" have been filmed in the country. Currently New Zealand welcomes around 30,000 visitors from India each year.
The prime minister also invited all Indian cricket fans to travel to New Zealand in January-February 2014 when the Indian national team is touring the country, and again in 2015 for the Cricket World Cup 2015.
