Shruti Haasan’s latest performance may be among her most cherished ones, purely for the emotional value it holds. On June 2, the actor-musician performed at the audio launch of Indian 2, which is led by her actor-father Kamal Haasan. Through their performance, Shruti and her band paid tribute to the superstar as they belted out his hit songs from the past decades, including Potta Padiyudhu and Akadanu Naanga. After a set, Shruti even walked to her father in the audience, touched his feet and hugged him before returning to the stage. Naturally, the heartfelt moment is going viral online.

Tell her that, and she says it’s a moment of pride for her. “I had a wonderful time putting [the act] together with my band. We had to revisit all his old songs and the new ones. It has always been special to perform for my father. A lot of who I am as a musician, singer and an artiste is because of my father. He enjoys the musician side of me. It’s an honour to perform for a legend, but as his daughter, it’s sweet to do this for him,” she says.

The event took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, and was attended by director S Shankar, actors Kajal Aggarwal, Rakul Preet Singh and music composer Anirudh Ravichander. The fact that it was in her hometown made it even better.

“No matter where I perform in the world, singing in Chennai, in the language I grew up speaking, is unparalleled. I write and think in English. But being a Chennai girl who listens to Tamil songs, it’s special to sing them to the people.”