Karisma Kapoor jets into London to publicly cook up a storm alongside a celebrity chef imported from India and with that imaginative garnish launches on Friday the UK's largest quick-change act ever -- a lifestyle show that oscillates between commercialism and culture.

The eponymousy-titled Mela also dreams of becoming the Asian version of that groundbreaking, 95-year-old Western concept, the Ideal Home Exhibition.

The three-day Mela, crammed full of Indian, Pakistani and British Asian celebrities, alongside bindis, bangles and bhajias-in-bags, unashamedly bears the Asian community's most explicit commercial message ever.

Analysts say the show, which attracted 30,000 visitors last year, is now proclaiming "brown to be the new black" even as it warns against taking this to be a mere fashion statement".