Even after marriage to Ramya, he still focuses on his finances, at times to the detriment of his personal relationships with his wife and relatives, who all live together in a small house.

The earlier delighted moneylender is now shocked at realizing that he must give up the house where his family members have long since settled, and orders his relatives to pack up and leave.

Padmanabhan, moved to tears, recalls his own heartbreak at being dragged out of his childhood home and agrees to let the family stay until the children have grown up.

[6] India Info wrote "Budget Padmanabhan gives a most realistic depiction of a middle class man’s economic travails.

[8] Dinakaran wrote "Small story and an interesting way of story-telling have contributed to the successful handling of the subject by the film director T.P.Gajendran.

[9] Sify wrote "K.R.G.International`s Budget Padmanabhan could have been a full-length hilarious sit-com if only the director hadn’t added the usual masala of sentiments, fights and melodrama in the last few reels.

Still the film tickles your funny bone, thanks to the perfect timing of Vivek, Manivannan and Kovai Sarala who are in charge of the comedy track.

[11] The film was remade in Telugu as Budget Padmanabham (2001) with Ramya Krishnan reprising her role,[12] in Malayalam as Vasanthamalika (2003) and in Kannada as Jipuna Nanna Ganda (2001).