An adaptation of the Tamil novella Uchi Veyyil by Indira Parthasarathy, the film stars Sivakumar, Radha, and Jayabharathi.

A few weeks earlier, Ambi, who married Sweetie, came with her to meet his orthodox Brahmin parents Vembu and Janaki.

Vembu insulted Sweetie and, unable to accept it, she decided to return immediately to Delhi and forced Ambi to leave with her.

Slowly, Ambi understands that his father is longing to see has erstwhile wife, because though paralysed, Vembu keeps tapping his fingers as steps for a dance.

In court, Vembu accused her of moral turpitude to justify the divorce petition, which hurt Avayam deeply and they got separated.

As a fan of Indira Parthasarathy's stories, Malayalam filmmaker K. S. Sethumadhavan approached him with a desire to adapt his novel Vendhu Tanindha Kaadugal for the screen; Parthasarathy however suggested the novella Uchi Veyil, and Sethumadhavan, who had read the story before, read it again and agreed to make it into a film.

[11] Sivakumar was a strong contender for the National Film Award for Best Actor, but lost to Amitabh Bachchan for Agneepath.

Based on Indira Parthasarathy's novella, the script of Marupakkam tries to be offbeat by withholding information and by cutting back and forth time.

"[15] The Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan, in a review dated 15 March 1992, applauded Marupakkam as a sharply focused film on the subject without any diversion with good editing, superb acting, re-recording at the right places and nice presentation.

[9] Another Tamil magazine, Kumudam, called it a "masterpiece" from Sivakumar, and said his career could be divided into two eras: "pre-Marupakkan and post-Marupakkam".

[9] Movieman of Madras Musings appreciated Sethumadhavan's direction for eschewing "The costumary, loud, artificial theatrics of the usual Kodambakkam Tamil film" while also praising the acting of star cast, Vaidyanathan's background score, Vasanthakumar's cinematography "that make Marupakkam a fine film at every level".