Bollywood stars Upen Patel, Celina Jaitley and Kim Sharma initially upstaged African National Congress President Jacob Zuma when they all appeared at a massive Diwali festival organised by the Rameshwar Mahadev Mandir, in the suburb of Lenasia, south of here, Tuesday evening.

But Zuma, who got lesser applause than the Bollywood stars, turned the tables on them with a better short speech than any of them after all three artists had made short addresses to the crowd, each with a customary politically correct message of loving their fans.

"I am away from my family for Diwali, but I am overwhelmed by the support here and seeing so many Indians - it's like I'm back at home, " a clearly delighted Sharma told the crowd.

Jaitley urged them to go and support her latest film, "Golmaal Returns", which she said was releasing on Wednesday, even though cinemas here are only planning to start showing it from the weekend.

Zuma, apologising for being late because he had been delayed in a neighbouring province, made it clear that he had come to the festival only to wish everyone a happy Diwali.

"It is always wonderful for all of us to do our traditions and our customs and to be proud of what we are as people of different nationalities. It's absolutely important, " Zuma said.