IPL-5 was launched formally in glitterati as it is the luxury form of cricket. The Indian Premier League not only had premier cricketing personalities from across the globe, but also had many stars from the tinsel worlds. The curtain raiser on Tuesday at Chennai was launched by some luminaries of the world of entertainment, led by Bollywood and Indian cinema's superstar Amitabh Bachchan at the historic Chepauk- M A Chidambaram.

In his mesmerizing baritone, megastar Amitabh Bachchan set the stage alive at the opening ceremony of the fifth season IPL with a heartwarming poem written by lyricist Prasoon Joshi. His performance was followed by Colonial Cousins, DJ Ravi Drums and Soth African percussionist group 1st Project who mesmerized with peppy numbers.

The audience’s enthusiasm went up to the next level as the Indian Michael Jackson, Prabhu Deva, set the stage on fire as he performed some scintillating dance numbers to songs like “Main aisa kyun hun” from “Lakshya” and “Tera hi jalwa” from “Wanted”.

Kareena Kapoor stole many hearts in Chennai when she danced to her chartbuster "Chhamak chhallo" and swayed to "Dil mera muft ka"and grooved to some remixed versions of her songs like “Yeh ishq haaye”, “Teri meri prem kahaani” and “Criminal”. But the cherry on the cake was her warm "Vanakkam". Her performance was fairly long and vivacious and left the audience asking for more.

Well what more there were performances from Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra and the audience included many from the tinsel worlds. Telugu superstar Venkatesh was one of the main attractions. The IPL match scheduled for the day is between the Chennai Super Kings who are on a hat trick mission, led by M S Dhoni and Mumbai Indians led by Harbhajjan Singh. The IPL fest is to continue for the next 45 days from today.