Here is a chance for the general public to elect their favourite film star and movie for one of the popular awards. Usually these nominations and selections are done by a panel of judges. But Vijay Awards Rasigan Express is unique.

Star Vijay TV lays a platform for the fans to vote for their favourite film personalities. 107 Tamil movies were released in 2007 and there will be 30 award categories for these films, in which four categories will be chosen by the fans and the remaining 26 categories will be selected by an esteemed jury.

Favourite hero, heroine, director and movie are the four categories, for which the public are given the opportunity to vote.

The Rasigan Express, a publicity van is created for the Vijay Awards. The flagging off of this van was held recently at City Centre, Chennai by the Minister for Information, Government of Tamil Nadu, Parithi Ilamvazhuthi. Also present at the ceremony were S.A. Chandrasekhar, film director and President, Tamil Film Directors� Council; Ramanarayanan, President, Tamil Film Producers� Council and FEFSI Vijayan, President, Film Employee�s Federation of South India (FEFSI).

The Rasigan Express Van would be travelling to various places in the State like Salem (March 21), Erode (March 22), Coimbatore (March 23 and 24), Madurai (March 25 and 26), Trichy (March 28) and Villupuram (March 29), where people would cast their votes to their favourites.

Best film, best actor male and female, best supporting actor male and female, best comedian, best villain and best play back singer male and female are some of the categories that will be selected by the jury. The panel of judges comprises of K. Bhagyaraj, Actor and Director; Yugi Sethu, Writer, Director and Producer; Madan, film critic and cartoonist and Lizzy Priyadarshan, film analyst.

Apart from the Rasigan Express van, fans could also vote for their favourite Tamil film starts through SMS, IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and online.

S. A. Chandrasekhar said that Vijay Awards is the real and best award as the fans themselves elect their beloved film stars.

The new concepts of Star Vijay have always received overwhelming response and this Vijay Awards Rasigan Express is not an exception.

U. Bakialakshmi