Indian sex symbol Mallika Sherawat sailed through a lightning shutdown by Nepal's major opposition parties Friday to launch a new range of computers and meet scores of excited fans.

Mallika flew into the capital Friday to launch Mero PC, a new range of computers assorted by India's Xenitis Group, who have teamed up with Base International Private Nepal, a Nepali computer dealer company based in Baneshwor, Kathmandu, to introduce the new product in Nepal.

To drum up publicity for the new ware, Base International conceived the scheme of offering a dinner date with Mallika.

The first 50 people to buy the new PC and or give correct answers to a quiz on computers, have been invited to a sumptuous dinner with Mallika Friday night at the Soaltee Crowne Plaza, Nepal's first luxury hotel.

"I am thrilled," said Deepal Kafle, a 28-year-old computer specialist working with a bank in Nepal, who is among the lucky 50. "I consider it as a life-time achievement," he enthused.

Kafle said if public transport failed to ply on the roads in the evening, he would walk up to the Soaltee, first ensuring to change into a snazzy pair of jeans and T-shirt to dine with Mallika.

Kafle has the Midas touch. He had filled up an entry form in his wife's name too, and she also figured among the lucky 50.

Another winner Anisha Pokhrel, 27, was eight months pregnant, so was keeping her fingers crossed that public transport would resume by evening.

Likewise, winner Archana Shrestha, 30, a Japanese language teacher, enthused that she was thrilled to have a dinner date with one of the "most popular actresses in Bollywood".

Mallika's reputation for shedding clothes at the drop of a hat doesn't deter Shrestha.

"She has a lovely body," Shrestha shrugged. "When you have such a smashing figure, it's no crime to show it off."

On Friday, a shutdown in Kathmandu Valley called by seven opposition parties to protest against media curbs imposed by King Gyanendra, brought life to a grinding halt in the capital.

The lightning shutdown call forced the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu to postpone a programme Friday where journalists were scheduled to meet the new spokesman.

Even the Royal Nepalese Army put off a media briefing scheduled for the afternoon.

But Mallika's date with Kathmandu remained on course, with diehard fans offering to walk for hours for a chance to meet the sultry actress.