Pokkiri celebrated a glorious 175 days run and a very big mega function was conducted to celebrate the huge success of the blockbuster film starring the 'King of Kollywood' Ilayathalapathy Vijay. Vijay Fans Network (VFN) had the exclusive rights to cover the function and were present at the function along with the other media who were jostling for space as the excitement hit fever pitch.

Vijay's fans from all over the state gathered at the Nehru stadium and had come to see their hero. The whole area was filled with vijay fans and the crowd was literally uncontrollable. The entire public including the onlookers and passers-by were amazed to see such a crowd gather for the event and were surprised to see the adulation being given to Vijay. Vijay Fans Network team entered the stadium, which was filled with fans who were chanting Vijay's name. Everytime Vijay's name or something about his movie was mentioned or performed, the hall went into a frenzied state. We are not able to express it in mere words. You got to see it to believe it.

The function began at 4:30pm. The celebrities started trickling into the stadium. Some of the celebrities were Jayam Ravi, Raghava Lawrence, actresses Sneha, Sandhya and others including the Tamil Nadu film distributors. The producer, Mr. Ramesh Babu took care of welcoming the guests and tried to make them comfortable. Music director Srikanth Deva, who was also in charge of the music director for this function, entertained the fans with songs from Vijay's films, BGM's from Vijay's films. The whole crowd enjoyed the show.

Just as everyone was enjoying the show, Ilayathalapathy Vijay arrived at the venue along with his wife, and this triggered a huge round of applause and whistles from all the fans present at the venue. Vijay wished all the fans for attending the function. More big celebrities like Prabudeva, Prakash Raj, Sreeman, Nasseer, Ajay Rathnam, Arun Pandian, Prabhu, Sathyaraj with his son Sibiraj (a big fan of Vijay!), Parthiban, KS Ravikumar and others arrived for the function.

The heroine of Pokkiri, Actress Asin was one of the big attractions at the function, with her wonderful costumes. Asin was pleasantly surprised seeing the huge crowd gathered for the function and felt very happy to be among those present for the function. One of the honourable and memorable chief guests for the function, Iyakkunar Sigaram K Balachandar arrived at the function. He was welcomed in a warm manner by Vijay himself and was accompanied by producer Ramesh Babu and director Prabudeva.

The function, went on in a very entertaining fashion. Many singers like Tippu, Suchitra, Naveen, Anuradha Sriram, Srikanth deva and Shoba Chandrasekar sang songs from Vijay's films. Especially Shoba Chandrasekar, Vijay's mother, felt very happy singing songs from her son's movie. She was visibly excited on seeing the adulation and the attention that her son was getting and she was also very happy to be a part of this mega event. Shields were given to the respective people from the technical department of Pokkiri. One set of shields were distributed by actress Asin along with director Prabudeva. Actress Sneha and actor Parthiban also participated in distributing shields to the whole team of Pokkiri.

Actor Jayam Ravi, who also distributed the shields, spoke at the function and his speech was as follows "Many actors find it very tough to say the truth in the public. But if you ask me, I will say that I came to the industry seeing the performance of Vijay. He is a big inspiration for me, and I will not hesitate in saying that I am following his path. I wish him many more successes in future". While the shields were being distributed, Dance master Kala took up the task of entertaining the audience with dance performances from her troupe of actresses that included Chaya Singh, Kiran, Tejashree, Malavika and others who performed dance numbers for songs from Vijay's films.

After an entertaining dance performance, Ulaganayagan Dr. Kamalhaasan arrived at the venue. Kamal Sir was welcomed by Vijay himself along with Kamal's PRO Mr. Nikhil Murugan. vijay himself went out of the way to receive Dr. Kamalhaasan. Once Kamal entered the stage along with Vijay, the entire crowd greeted them with huge applause that reverberated throughout the stadium.

One of ther most memorable moments of the function was a dance number choreographed by popular dance master and actor Lawrence. Lawrence choreographed the dance for the superhit song "Thaam Thakka" which starred himself along with Vijay, and this song was performed by a group of physically challenged students. It was a very touching moement and the performance was greatly appreciated by Vijay and his fans. It was such an amazing performance, that Vijay was mesmerised and was seen applauding the performance.

Lawrence when asked to speak at the function said the following "I got a call from SAC Sir one day. He said that Vijay had seen a program conducted by me along with some physically challenged students on a TV channel, and he wanted me to perform in this function along with those students. Normally if I get a project, its not a very big thing for me. But if I get a project on these student's behalf, I consider it a very big achievement. I immediately called up the boys and said that they need to perform in a function. They asked me 'what function'. I said they had to perform in a Vijay Sir's function. They were all excited and I could hear the shouting and their clapping on the phone. This shows how much Vijay Sir has entered into the hearts of the people".

Lawrence also said "I want to ask Vijay sir a question. This is a better place to ask it, and so I will ask it here. Normally when he goes to a function, he sings a song or speaks a few lines and then leaves. Everybody knows that he is an excellent dancer. I want to ask him to dance on this stage. Not for the fans, not for us, but for these  (physically challenged) children. He should dance for at least one step which would make these children happy". Immediately to everybody's surprise, Vijay walked upto the stage, and started dancing on the stage very much to the delight of the children. The whole stadium was stunned and it erupted with whistles and huge applause. This was the first time that Vijay had actually danced on stage. It was a moment that we too would always cherish. SAC Sir and Vijay then donated funds to the dance school that is being built by Dance master Raghava Lawrence for the physically challenged people. 

The Kuthu Vilakku was lighted by Vijay's mother Shoba Chandrasekar and Actress Sandhya.  Everyone were then welcomed to the stage by producer Ramesh Babu and were honoured with a flower bouquet. SAC sir welcomed the fans, the media and everyone present at the function. SAC Sir then narrated a story of how him and Vijay had went to Kamal Sir's house to invite him for the 175th day celebrations of Pokkiri. He said that Kamal Sir had asked him for a date when the function would be held and also said that he had commitments abroad. SAC Sir said that they had got only one date and that too on July 8th, the day Kamal Sir was to leave abroad. In a few seconds, Kamal Sir agreed to attend the function, and he said "I will come and do it". But the fact that he agreed to come for the function inspite of having other commitments shows his magnanimity.

Dr. Kamalhaasan then distributed shields to the distributors and to the main cast of Pokkiri including Ilayathalapathy Vijay, Asin and Prabudeva. Kamal Sir then spoke "Vijay had called me up for the preview show of Pokkiri. I saw the movie at the preview show while Vijay was standing outside. After the movie was over, I came out and I saw Vijay standing in a very quiet and humble manner. I started thinking how come this boy is able to do a lot of action packed stuff on screen, but can be so humble and soft off the screen. He is a very discplined person, and I want to see him like this forever. SAC sir spoke about how he and Vijay had approached me to attend this function. When he asked me if I could attend this function, I said I will come for this function just on seeing Vijay. I want to encourage him as a brother. A lot of people tell me that our family is a cine family. but according to me, Vijay's family should be said as the 'cine family'. His uncles, mother, father all are associated with this profession. I actually would love to sit through this entire function, but I have to leave for shooting abroad. I wish the team all success in their future endeavors". Kamal Sir then left the function, to catch his flight abroad.

It was then the turn of our 'Chellam' Prakash raj, who thanked the entire crew and said that all the success was due to Vijay and Prabudeva who had worked really hard for the movie. He wished them all success. Prabudeva spoke as follows "I want to speak a lot, but I cant speak everything within the duration of this function. I am thankful to everyone who played their part in the making of this movie. My special thanks to Vijay for making this movie a Blockbuster. I thank everyone who have made this movie a big hit". Producer Ramesh babu thanked cameraman Nirav Shah for his brilliant photography, thanked Kola Baskar who worked for 22 hours during the last month before the release the film, thanked Manisharma who had given them such wonderful songs which are among the biggest hits of the year, thanked Fefsi Vijayan for his fabulous stunts, and finally thanked Prabudeva and Vijay for making the film such a huge success

Director K Balachandar spoke "When you see the character that the hero had played, I felt that Vijay played that part very well. It is one thing to conceive a story, but its an entirely different thing to bring it in the screenplay format. I really appreciate 'Pokkiri' Prabudeva for his fabulous work in the film. Everybody's hard work was visible throughout the film, and its a wonderful thing that the film has reached great heights. Everyone who acted in the film including Prakashraj have done really well. I also want to add that I am a great fan of Asin, and I felt that she was a big asset to the film".

When the turn came for Vijay to speak, the stadium erupted with a big round of applause. Vijay spoke "I thank all my fans and everyone who have taken their time to attend this function. I also thank my fans who are a big reason for the huge success of Pokkiri. All credits must go to director Prabudeva for his amazing work, and he had brought out more than the expected output. I also thank my producer Mr. Ramesh Babu, with whom this film would have not been possible. The songs, the fights, the cinematography, everything had come out in brilliant fashion. I also thank all those who have organized this function in a very grand manner, including my father, my PRO, the producer, all my Rasigar Mandram people and others who have contributed to this function".

After the function got over, dinner was arranged for all the people who had gathered for the event. The stadium's capacity was 10,000 out of which 95% of the capacity was full with fans, the media and all others who had attended the function. The entire function was well organized and well executed by SA Chandrasekar Sir with the help of the All India Ilayathalapathy Vijay's Welfare Association and also with the help of Vijay's PRO Mr. PT Selvakumar. The television rights for the function have been exclusively sold to the upcoming channel 'Kalaignar TV'. It is a really cherishable moment that the fans will not forget for the rest of the lives. We at VFN, enjoyed the event to the fullest, and we hope that we were able to re-create the event in a fitting manner through our synopsis of the event above. We thank the Pokkiri team for giving us such memorable entertainment, and we wish that we get more of such entertainment from them and especially from our favorite actor Vijay for the rest of our lives.

Check out the stills from the event here

A VFN Exclusive