[4][5] The film illustrates the road journey of two people, a mentally challenged adult and an eight-year-old schoolboy, both in search of their respective mothers.

After Myshkin had completed and released his maiden venture Chithiram Pesuthadi in 2006, he wrote the script for Nandalala for eight months, which was supposed to be his next directorial.

[12] Despite completing a photo shoot with Ravi Krishna, the film was shelved, since Ratnam opted out, after he incurred heavy losses with his previous productions.

[13][14] Myshkin later revealed, that in spite of demands from the producers, he didn't make any compromises in this film, in contrast to his previous ventures, as Nandhalala was his "dream project".

[2] Ilaiyaraaja, hence, composed a "simple" and "minimalized" score and had written a symphonic piece, using only three instruments, a flute, an oboe and a violin, for which three specialized Hungarian artists from the Budapest Festival Orchestra were invited.

Finally Ayngaran International was able to release the film on 26 November 2010, one-a-half years after its completion, facing opposition from newcomer Sripathy's Kanimozhi.

[29] The Hindu's Malathi Rangarajan, too gave a very positive verdict, calling it the "real road film" that is made "for seekers of worthy cinema".

Further praising the director, she cites that Myshkin "rises high above the standards he set with the earlier quality cocktails" and that "Tamil cinema needs more creators like him".

[29] Meanwhile, Sify critic Sreedhar Pillai in his review described Nandalala as "another heart wrenching story" that was "slow and melancholic", claiming it was for people "like films that explores the realms of anguish and despair".

Whilst The New Indian Express review tributed Ilaiyaraaja for an "outstanding" background score, it criticised Myshkin for replicating "not just the concept, but almost the entire graph of the plot and narration" of the original, labelling it as "blatant plagiarism".