The film stars Vijay in the main lead role alongside Trisha, Suman, Vivek, Ashish Vidyarthi and Manivannan.

His father Singamuthu had gone to Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh to work at a colliery and never returned, prompting Velu and his family to think that he is dead.

Velu learns that a Malaysia-based crime boss named Koccha owed his father a huge sum of money.

After confronting Koccha, Velu learns that his father is alive and is being held as bonded labour along with many innocent people at Kadapa.

Velu soon discovers a slave camp run by Koccha and Konda Reddy at the colliery, where a womanising goon named Kadapa Raja is torturing the inmates.

With the help of his uncle Elango (Ilavarasu), Velu sneaks into Koccha's mansion on the eve of Devi's wedding with Soori to find out his father's whereabouts.

[14] Nayanthara was first approached to be heroine of the film,[15] but Trisha was later selected to be paired with Vijay for the fourth time after Ghilli (2004), Thirupaachi (2005) and Aathi (2006).

[17] A stunt scene was picturised with Vijay taking on few men who belong to the African mafia in a huge bar-cum-disco set erected for this purpose.

In Kuruvi, the director used a chopper to shoot an entire song sequence to give it a feel of grandeur which was shot in Kuala Lumpur.

The team had even erected another set nearby in Sriperumbudur for shooting a song sequence, which featured some models from Bangalore and Mumbai.

[27] Rediff wrote "Kuruvi's got everything to appeal to Vijay fans – but Dharani the director is lost in this melee of fist-fights and elementary comedy".

[30] The Hindu wrote that the film "tries its best to fly high, only that the effort isn’t enough because earlier his eagle (Ghilli) had soared much higher.