The film stars Udhayanidhi Stalin in his penultimate acting credit, Prasanna, Srikanth, and Aathmika, while Bhumika, Vasundhara Kashyap, and Sathish play supporting roles.

[8][9] The film experienced production delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Udhayanidhi's political aspirations,[10] with actress Subiksha Krishnan's portions only being completed by January 2022.

[13] Gopinath Rajendran, a critic from The Hindu, wrote, "Like an onion, Kannai Nambathey is a collection of layers that, when unravelled, have nothing at its core, apart from leaving us teary-eyed.

"[14] A critic from Maalai Malar gave 3.25 rating out of 5 and stated that although there are some questions about the script, it does not seem like a big deal; the director has given the film so much that it is impossible to guess what the next scenes will be.

[15] Logesh Balachandran critic from The Times of India wrote that "with better lighting techniques and staging, and tighter writing in the second half, the film might have created a greater impact on us" and gave 2.5 stars out of 5.