The function was held at the Ragavendra Kalyana Mandapam in Chennai. Rajnikanth's guru, director K.Balachander, was the chief guest and Kamalhassan was the main invitee. They were seated on stage alongwith Rajnikanth, director K.S.Ravikumar and Rajnikanth's elder brother Sathyanarayana Rao Gaikwad. Comedian Vivek hosted the function. Big cut-outs of Rajnikanth, one from his first movie Aboorva Raagangal and one from Padaiyappa adorned both sides of the stage.
Mr.Muthukumariah, son of "Chintamani" Murugesan, who is the distributor for Padaiyappa in the Chengalpet district presented Rajnikanth with a 6.5 ft tall Silver 'Vel'. A huge rose garland, weighing 175 kgs, was placed on Rajnikanth by Satyanarayana, Secretary of the All India Rajnikanth Fan Club, on behalf of the fan club.
Rajnikanth's elder brother Sathyanarayana Rao Gaikwad made a very emotional speech about Rajnikanth. He talked about Rajnikanth's younger days and the path his life has taken. Tears could be seen in the eyes of both Rajnikanth and his brother during this speech.
All the artists and technicians who acted in the movie were presented with a gold chain. Ramya Krishnan, who earned great praise for her performance as Nilambari, was presented with a gold chain with diamond a 'Vel' studded in it. All distributors and exhibitors were presented with a Padaiyappa shield.
During his speech, the superstar announced that he was gifting his Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam to the people of Tamil Nadu. He had created a will in which he transferred the mandapam, which is presently in his name, to the Raghavendra Charity Trust. He then handed over the will to an advocate on stage. He said that it rightly belonged to the people since it was the money they had spent to see his movies. Explaining his decision to make this announcement in public, he said that he had done it this way so that he could not go back on his word. He said even a good decision made in private may be taken back at a later time but not after he had made it in public.