Mahendran later revealed that Kamal Haasan helped him financially when he couldn't convince the producer of Mullum Malarum to allocate additional funds to shoot certain critical scenes. Mahendran and Kamal Haasan never got to work together but shared a great deal of respect and friendship.
After watching the film, director K. Balachander, Rajinikanth's mentor, wrote a letter to him saying he was proud of introducing Rajinikanth to cinema. Rajinikanth considers that letter as the biggest award he could ever get and has preserved that letter.
Apart from his mentor K.Balachander, Rajinikanth mentioned Mahendran as his favourite filmmaker, who always brought out the best in him. Rajinikanth worked in three films directed by Mahendran.
Mahendran made his directorial debut with this film after an illustrious career as a specialist screenwriter. His films Mullum Malarum and especially 'Udhiripookal' are considered milestones in Tamil screenwriting.
Producer Venu Chettiyar agreed to finance the film expecting Mahendran to make a conventional "brother-sister" melodrama. But Mahendran who was disillusioned with the artifice of the Tamil mainstream wanted to make an understated film with grounded performances and minimal dialogues. After watching a rough cut Chettiyar thought that Mahendran had made a mistake by doing so and that the film was going to flop. Initially, just as Chettiyar expected, the audience response wasn't great but gradually the word of mouth helped the film become a success.