Tom Cruise’s big fat Indian shindig at Taj Mahal Palace

Hollywood actor Tom Cruise partied with the who’s who of the Indian film industry till 1.30am on Saturday night in Mumbai.

The party, hosted by actor Anil Kapoor, was held in the ballroom of the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers in Mumbai. Cruise is in India to promote his film Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. After a quick stopover in the Capital on Saturday morning, a short photo-op at the Taj Mahal in Agra the same afternoon, Cruise and Kapoor flew to Mumbai.

Though actors Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar gave it a miss, actors Aamir Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, and filmmaker Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra were among the 150 guests. “He was charming and even posed for photographs with a lot of people,” said a source.

“Just finished dinner with Anil, Tom Cruise & their guests! What a Gracious host Anil is & OMG ! Tom used to be my heart throb in Top Gun! (sic)” tweeted Preity Zinta. “Want to thank Anil Kapoor for the lovely evening, met Tom Cruise, a super cool guy…” tweeted Arjun Rampal.

For the duration of Cruise’s stay, Kapoor and his wife Sunita moved into the same hotel. “Tom’s schedule is very tight, and travelling from Juhu everyday would be cumbersome. So, we decided to move into the hotel for as long as he is here,” said Kapoor. “Tom was absolutely mesmerised by the Taj. He loved the fact that such a monument could be built in the 15th century. He loved it.”

Tom Cruise who?

On Sunday, an online paper reported that the hundreds of fans waiting for Cruise at the Mumbai airport were actually junior artists who were hired for Rs 150 a day. As per the report, they were not even aware that a big Hollywood star was arriving and were simply asked to be there. An artist quoted says she has no idea who Tom Cruise is. Neither Kapoor nor anyone with the international team of MI4 could be contacted for a quote.