Shah Rukh Khan has done guest appearances in two films ready to hit the theatres. First Samar Khan's "Kuch Meetha Ho Jaye" this Friday, followed by "Kaal" next week.

Shah Rukh Khan, who can never say no to friends, will also be seen in a cameo appearance in Khalid Mohamed's "Silsilay".

Explains Shah Rukh: "Both are old journalist-friends. When they asked me to be a small part of their films I couldn't say no to them."

The superstar can afford to be generous. He has just got some of his close friends to make guest appearances in his home production "Paheli".

"Juhi Chawla and Suniel Shetty of course are old friends. They happily agreed. But Amitji has taken time off from his busy schedule to give us some time for a cameo in 'Paheli'. It's such a warm sweet and generous gesture."

Guest appearances seem to be the order of the day. And the hyper-busy Amitabh Bachchan is scheduled to make special appearances in four forthcoming projects.

Tamil mega-star Madhavan is making a very special guest appearance in a major film featuring one of the Khans. But he cannot talk about it because the contract forbids it.

In fact, a lot of mega-stars agree to lend their presence on condition that they be kept out of the publicity. "It was misleading for the public to see Shah Rukh Khan's face as prominently as leading man Kamal Haasan's in 'Hey Ram'. That's what killed the beautiful film. No wonder SRK insists on keeping his guest appearances out of the publicity campaigns," opines Arjun Sablok whose film "Na Tum Jano Na Hum" had unbilled guest appearances by some stars.

Aishwarya Rai has a guest appearance in Adhiyaman's "Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam". "But that was for friends whom I couldn't say no to," says Ash. On principle she's against such appearances, she says.

Sometimes the guests are forced to stay on long after protocol for guest appearances runs out. This was the case with Amitabh Bachchan in "Andha Kanoon" and more recently Preity Zinta in "Dil Ne Jissey Apna Kahaa".

Both the roles started off as 'special attractions', but got so special that they completely overshadowed the two films' official leads (Rajnikanth and Bhoomika Chawla, respectively).