[1] The film features an ensemble cast including S. J. Suryah, Vijay Sethupathi, Bobby Simha, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Anjali, and Pooja Devariya.

It revolves around three financially struggling men trying to overcome their problems by involving in criminal activities, not realising the impact their efforts are having on the women in their lives.

The film features music composed by Santhosh Narayanan with cinematography handled by Sivakumar Vijayan and edited by Vivek Harshan.

An angry Ponni starts ignoring her husband, never visits him in jail, gives birth to their daughter, and eventually returns to her village.

After confronting Ponni over her love for Jagan, both Michael and she decide to forget everything that happened and plan to leave Chennai to start a new life.

As Arul is taken to prison, he contacts Yazhini and pretends that he has once again returned to his drunken habits as he does not want her to suffer with the stigma of being a criminal's wife, effectively ending their relationship.

Yazhini only watches the rain, leaving the viewers to introspect on how she is not ready to venture out into the world alone yet, while Ponni allows herself to get drenched, finally letting go.

[5] A year later, in September 2014, it was reported that the film would be titled Iraivi and produced by C. V. Kumar via Thirukumaran Entertainment, collaborating with Karthik for the second time after Pizza (2012).

[6][7] The producers then officially confirmed the project in February 2015, with cinematographer Gavemic U. Ary, editor Vivek Harshan, composer Santhosh Narayanan, art director R. K. Vijay Murugan and sound designer duo Vishnu Govind and Sree Sankar forming the technical crew.

[9] Karthik stated that the story is based on a Christian family and the relationship between two brothers, adding that the film would focus on how women influence men in modern society.

The film is based on the women we see around us and how certain things are no different, no matter what class or background they belong to.In February 2015, Karthik released a press statement confirming the casting of Bobby Simha, Vijay Sethupathi and S. J. Suryah as the lead actors, with Karunakaran in a major role.

[8] Karthik described Iraivi as a performance-driven film, where "good actors can make a huge difference to a scene that might sound or read flat".

[23] In early January 2016, the first look poster was released, and the caption "Sila woMENkalin kadhai" (Story of few woMEN) was highlighted by commentators for the way it capitalised the word "men".

"[33] In his review for The Hindu, Baradwaj Rangan wrote, " Iraivi is an unusual feminist film, in the sense that it's seen entirely through the prism of sympathetic male characters.

"[34] Gauthaman Baskaran of Hindustan Times wrote, "Iraivi in the end seems like a story gone astray, the lives of several people destroyed by male egoistic rage that seeks solution in blood and gore.

"[35] Kirubakar Purushothaman of India Today gave 3 out of 5 and stated, "The story of Iraivi is about the victimisation of the females in the film by the malevolent arrogance of their respective not-so-better halves.

"[36] J Hurtado of ScreenAnarchy wrote, "Not straight enough to be a great drama, and not out-there enough to be another quirky winner, Iraivi falls flat".

[37] S. Saraswathi of Rediff.com gave 3.5 out of 5 to the film, stating, "The beautifully etched out characters, the performances, the exceptional music and the thought-provoking message makes Karthik Subbaraj's Iraivi a must watch.

"[38] Giving 3 out of 5 stars, Anupama Subramanian of Deccan Chronicle wrote, "The movie has a feminist theme and the bold characters have semblance to one we used to see in K. Balachander's films.

"[40] Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute wrote that the director "does suggest that women ought to stop depending on men for their happiness but sadly, even then, none of his female characters MAKE that choice actively.