The evening of Saturday, September 23, 2006, saw a mega-star-studded occasion at the Nehru Stadium in Chennai; with the entire film industry – from mega-stars to musicians to singers and dancers – giving various performances to felicitate the Tamilnadu CM, Dr. M. Karunanidhi.
The event was organised to felicitate and thank the CM for his “sops” for the betterment of the Tamil film industry – he has given many concessions and incentives aimed at improving the Tamil film industry’s work – and everyone except a few stars who were not in town (like the newlywed honeymooners, Suriya and Jyotika) was there to do his/ her bit. The event lasted 7 hours and was a rainbow of song, dance, music and poetry designed to say thanks to the CM and wow him with the industry’s unison.
Rajinikant, Kamal Haasan, Vikram, Vijay, Asin, Sneha, Radikaa, Khushboo, the biggest music directors, the most famous singers – you name them and they were present. The song-and-dance included a down-memory-lane performance where all the stars crossed each other on stage in a dance-drama; enthralling the audience and the CM himself. Music director Deva gave a special orchestra performance.
The introduction to the ceremony was given by the President of the Tamilnadu Film Producers’ Council Mr. A. Ramnarayanan and the vote of thanks by Ilayathalapathy Vijay’s father, S.A. Chandrashekhar.
The CM, Dr. M. Karunanidhi himself spoke to the entire industry and the audience. He said that the entire industry had warmed his heart by organising such a huge event in unison. He talked about his work with the industry years ago and how film is one area in which he expresses his poetic works. He wished the industry all the best on surpassing world standards in all areas of film from performance to technical superiority to entertainment with a message.