Bala (Vivek), a poor priest, lives in an agraharam in Kumbakonam, looking after his aged parents and performing puja at a Perumal temple.

[3] In November 2013, Vivek confirmed filming had started and stated he would portray the role of a Hindu priest at a Perumal temple in Kumbakonam, who gets into a relationship with a local thug.

[5] The team held a large scale audio launch event in December 2013 at Kamala Theatre, Chennai with Mani Ratnam, Bharathiraja, K. Balachander and A. R. Rahman in attendance as chief guests.

[6] Vivek was insistent that Rahman attended the event and pushed back the launch by a week and changed the setting from Sathyam Cinemas, in order to accommodate the composer.

That it isn't is a function of the usual problems of our cinema — sketchy performances in the supporting parts, flavourless romance, comedy that constantly undermines the film's seriousness, lazy contrivances, mood-killing songs and an over-the-top ending".

[2] The Times of India gave the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote, "There is juicy melodrama in-built in the story of Naan Than Bala but the writing and direction are plain amateurish.

[8] IANS gave 2.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Shoddy writing and direction makes Naan Than Bala a boring film despite good intention".

[11] Behindwoods gave it 1.75 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Naan Than Bala is an old tale of Dharma's triumph over evil that doesn't engage you well enough and is kind of preachy at places, but with a very heartfelt performance from Vivek".