The pooja and kick off event of Vijay’s Velayudham, held today, was as much as a family event as it was a fan event. Fans from 30 districts in Tamil Nadu thronged the Madras University Centenary Hall in Chepauk to get a glimpse of Vijay and to participate in the commencement of the movie. The dais saw the Velayudham team present with their families: Vijay, Jeyam Raja, Aaskar Sridhar attended the event with their spouses along with S A Chandrasekhar, Shoba Chandrasekhar, Editor Mohan, Vijay Anthony, Genelia and Hansika Motwani.
The event started after a baton that travelled across Tamil Nadu and brought to the event by fans, was handed over to Vijay. At 10.05, the auspicious time, Pooja was held and a bound script was handed by Sridhar, S A Chandrasekhar and Editor Mohan to Vijay. A teaser trailer, shot during the photo sessions, was also shown to the hollering fans. A title song of sorts, composed by Vijay Anthony, was played time and again during the event making the fans scream their lungs out.
Hansika and Genelia were the first ones to speak at the event, who said that they are happy to associate with the team. After which Vijay Anthony addressed the audience, who also revealed that he was bowled over by the story even as it was narrated to him by Jeyam Raja. “I realized the edge-of-the-seat experience when I heard the story,” he said. He assured that the movie would be a runaway hit in 2011 and it would be an out and out entertainer with all commercial ingredients thrown in.
An ecstatic Raja said it is the happiest day in his life. “I’m lucky to have associated with producer Aascar Ravichandran. I’m happy that the chief guests for this event are the fans. They are the judges and I assure them that Velayudham would be the best movie in Vijay’s career,” he declared. A book, titled Saadanai Naayaganin Sarithira Padivugal, written by Vijay’s PRO for more than a decade P T Selvakumar was also released at the event. This book traces the life of Vijay from his childhood days to Velayudham and includes photos and snippets collected from various points of his life.
Vijay was all praise for producer Aascar Ravichandran and revealed that it was Ravi’s idea to have fans participate in the pooja of Velayudham. “My films usually do not have grand launch events. However, Aascar wanted it to be so but I was skeptical about it. I told him not to bring any international stars like Jackie Chan like he did for Dasavatharam launch. That is when he suggested this idea to include fans in the launch,” he said. “I am glad to have done this since I’m where I’m because of my fans,” he stated emotionally. He went on to assure that the movie would be a good entertainer and appealed his fans to support the movie like they do for his other movies.
On a lighter note, about the heroines, he said that Hansika Motwani is like Kushboo from 16 Vayadinile. On Genelia, he stated that they share a rapport since he knows her owing to their earlier association.
All the fans, who were selected to attend the event, received a gift hamper with a Velayudham Tshirt. They were also served with Biriyani and refreshments to go along with it.
