Balachander later remade the film in Telugu as Idi Katha Kaadu (1979), with Haasan reprising his role.

After her father is transferred to Bombay, she slowly loses touch with Bharani, who does not respond to her letters.

She seeks time to decide and writes one last letter to Bharani, and upon receiving no reply, she marries Ramanathan.

Ramanathan suspects Anu's character and expresses doubts regarding the paternity of their newborn son.

Unable to take further abuse, and also for the well-being of her son, she divorces Ramanathan, refuses alimony, and returns to Madras to start a new independent life.

In Madras, Anu gets supportive friends at her office, particularly a widower named Janardhan "Johnny," who frequently "talks" through his puppet, Junior.

She regrets her son's behaviour; exploiting her anonymity, she obtains work as Anu's maid.

Ramanathan comes to Madras as Anu's boss, seemingly repentant and wanting to redress his wrongs.

Noticing Anu's predicament and Ramanathan's continued involvement in her life, Bharani decides to move away from her and goes abroad for his musical programmes.

When she reaches his home, Leelavathi reveals that Ramanathan has not really changed; he had staged this drama to stop her marriage to Bharani.

Anu confronts Ramanathan; he reveals that he could not tolerate his ex-wife living happily; hence, he ensured that all her dreams were shattered.

[23][24] Avargal had a reputation of being one of the most sensitive films on women's lib,[25] and is widely regarded as one of the finest that Balachander had directed.

[26] In 2014, Baradwaj Rangan while analysing the dominance of female characters in Balachander's films, included Avargal as one among them.

[27] Clips from Avargal were screened along with clips from other films such as Server Sundaram (1964), Iru Kodugal (1969), Arangetram (1973), Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974) and Azhagan (1991) at a function held in Balachander's honour at Tiruchirappalli in January 2015,[28] a month after his death.

Rajnikanth gave a classic performance projecting a combination of two contrasting facets of villainy – both openly sadistic and wily.

[32] Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote, "Avargal is yet another film in which Sujatha scored a ton, despite the powerful presence of Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Ravikumar" and also praised Rajni's performance as "one of his best till date".