Though the film had a shoestring budget of ₹175,000 (US$2,000), featured mostly amateur actors, and was made by an inexperienced crew, Newspaper Boy was a critical success.

[3] P. Ramdas once read in Filmfare magazine that Raj Kapoor was India's youngest film director.

[8] Ramadas wrote a "film treatment", by making certain changes in his short story, and developed it into a complete script by 1953 September–October.

Kurup submitted his work soon, but was rejected by Ramadas, stating that it was written in a typical Travancore accent but the story is taking place in Thrissur.

[10] He planned to film the movie in May 1954, after his exams, and booked a floor of the erstwhile Merryland Studio in Thiruvananthapuram for indoor shooting.

[11] The film was produced by Adarsh Kalamandir, a subdivision of Mahatma Memorial Association, founded by Ramadas and his friends in 1945 as Balasangham.

[14] Krishnan Elaman, Balakrishnan and K. D. George, all of them from Merryland Studios, were chosen for sound recording, makeup and editing respectively.

[14] The lead character Appu was inspired by a twelve-year-old newspaper boy Ramadas had met somewhere in a journey to Ernakulam.

[14] Another major character, Sankaran Nair, Appu's father, was inspired by a press worker named Cheekutty.

[14] A theatre actor named Jagadamma was originally cast in the role of Kalyani Amma, Appu's mother, but was later replaced by Neyyattinkara Komalam.

[15] The realism-influenced train sequence, inspired by a scene from Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, was filmed from Ernakulam South railway station.

For instance, he wanted to shoot the scene in which Kittummavan explains his son about Sankaran Nair's condition in a single shot.

[17] The film, made at a budget of ₹ 175,000, was panned by audiences who were not interested in seeing "their own lives onscreen", and ultimately became a big box office failure.

[1] Newspaper Boy opened to positive reviews from various critics with many of them appreciating Ramadas for taking up such a risky and experimental film.

[18] A reviewer from The Bombay Chronicle said that it was pleasant to find a film that was not "only 'progressive' in abandoning set formulae, but progressive" in how it did realism.

[22] A review by Screen India stated that the unusual part of the film was its lack of usage of "the usual box-office devices."

[23] A review by Deenabandhu said that the film presented the everyday life of a middle-class family with complete realism.

[23] A review by Sakhavu said that those who "forget art and culture to make money" were hit hard by the film.

[24] Writer-producer Rajinder Singh Bedi said that it was well-presented, well-directed and well-photographed, and wished that it would open "the eyes of our producers, in Bombay.

"[25] Film Divisions director V. R. Sharma stated that it marked a refreshingly new approach in Southern Indian film-making due to its realistic nature.

There are eleven songs in the film, and the playback singers include Kamukara Pusushothaman and Santha P. Nair.

Ramadas wanted to change this system and in Newspaper Boy, all the tunes are original and follows the folk traditions of the State.