The film stars S. V. Subbaiah, R. Muthuraman, Chandrakantha and Rajasree, with Nagesh, V. Gopalakrishnan, V. S. Raghavan, Jayanthi and S. N. Lakshmi in supporting roles.

Kalai Kovil was released on 25 September 1964 and received positive reviews from critics for its music, cast performances, writing and direction by Sridhar.

An impoverished man rises from rags to riches by becoming a veena vidwan, but almost loses it in the lap of a danseuse and the lavishness of liquor.

After the success of Kadhalikka Neramillai (1964), its producer and director C. V. Sridhar decided to make his next directorial venture based on the life of a musician.

[16][17] The film received positive reviews from critics who praised the music, performances of the cast, the screenplay, dialogues and direction by Sridhar.

The reviewer called the songs composed by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy "a delight to the ears", but felt they did not exploit the veena, "the very soul of the film", fully.