The film stars Mohanlal in the titular role, along with a huge ensemble cast including Jagapati Babu, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Lal, Vinu Mohan, Kishore, Bala, Noby Marcose, Siddique, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Nandhu, M. R. Gopakumar, Sudheer Karamana, Hareesh Peradi, Makarand Deshpande and Namitha.

[9] Murugan lives in Puliyoor, a small forest village that is vulnerable to man-eating Royal Bengal Tigers and frequent human–wildlife conflicts.

Murugan is grateful to the villagers who cared for him after his parents's deaths, and is obsessively protective of Manikuttan, who is about to finish his MBA graduation in Mangalore.

Shiva's father Daddy Girija owned a pharmaceutical company which was developing a drug to treat cancer and they need ganja (cannabis) from the forest.

They made a contract with Ramaiya, an illegal ganja dealer in the forest; on their return to the village they encounter a tiger but were saved by Murugan, who kills it.

The forest officials have found the dead tiger's carcass at Thookupara; its killing is a violation of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, a non-bailable offence.

Shiva offered Murugan sanctuary in Kasaragod under Daddy's protection and deceived him that the police are in pursuit to arrest him for the tiger killing.

In an encounter with Zachariya, Murugan learnt that Daddy was illegally producing hash oil and exporting it under cover of the pharmacy where Manikuttan was working.

[18] Some pictures of South Indian actress Namitha taken in the filming location surfaced on the internet on 13 September, confirming her presence.

[22] Bala was reported to have opted out from director Siva's Tamil film Vedalam (2015) in favour of a prominent role in Pulimurugan.

[30] Other supporting roles are played by Siddique, Nandhu, Santhosh Keezhattoor, Sasi Kalinga, Sethulakshmi, Chali Pala, Hareesh Peradi, V. K. Baiju, Kannan Pattambi and Jaykrishnan.

The design of Mohanlal's Pulimurugan outfit was based on the sketches drawn by poster designer-cum-storyboard illustrator Subin Sudhakaran.

[11] The film's art director was Joseph Nellickal, Johnkutty was the editor, the production controller was Noble Jacob and Satheesh Kavilkotta was the executive producer.

A tea shop was created on a set in Blavana near Pooyamkutty town and a scene in which Murugan reveals his love to Myna was shot at Kalladi Pocket.

[57] To direct the man-tiger fight sequences, Hein researched tigers for months and declined films that could have earned him crores.

The maximum delay in production was caused by the decision to use a live tiger, which consumed the most days that account 10 percent of the total film.

[61] It was reported that on 27 January, Mohanlal's car was hit by a speeding tipper lorry at Illithode, Malayattoor, on his way to the location and he escaped unhurt.

[70] According to website Onmanorama, the poster featuring Mohanlal illustrated his character as a hunter, looking "intense like a predator whose sight set on the prey and is getting ready to launch himself on it, right hand clutching the ground and right leg firmly dug into the soil gathering force, left hand spread like a wing to maintain the balance and left leg placed strategically to give additional thrust for the attack.

Because the story takes place in a forest village, an earthy colour tone was used in the film with mainly greens, browns and subtle yellows to keep it realistic.

[86] Manyam Puli after completing 50 days run collected ₹12 crore from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana box office.

He praised Mohanlal's "super flexible in stunt scenes" and his "mighty impressive" efforts, Kumar's cinematography and Hein's "adrenaline-filled action" choreography, with a special mention for the climax fight.

The movie has a good enough story to keep the audience engaged while providing ample thrills through Peter Hein-choreographed fantastic action sequences".

Sify noted Hein and Kumar for the stunts and visuals, called the performances of Mohanlal "an absolute delight to watch", and praised other cast members including Lal, Babu, Venjaramoodu, Kishore, and Ajas.

James also praised Sundar's film score, Kumar's cinematography, the VFX work, and Hein for introducing "high-voltage ... whole new action sequences to the Malayali audiences", which "struck a chord with the moviegoers".

Vetticad of Firstpost gave the film 2 stars out of five, remarking "the combined strength of Lalettan, the tigers, the suspenseful action and the humour when it is not crude is not enough to drown out the loudness and crassness of Pulimurugan.

The soundtrack runs for over ten minutes and has three tracks; a duet sung by K. J. Yesudas and K. S. Chithra, a solo by Vani Jairam, and a theme song by Sunder.

[66] The first music video from the film, "Kaadaniyum Kalchilambe" sung by Yesudas and Chithra, was released via YouTube on 14 September 2016—the day of the Hindu festival Thiruvonam.

[112] Nivedita Mishra of Hindustan Times said, "It is a paean to marriage ... Kaadaniyum Kalchilambe is a beautiful celebration of Kerala—so lush and so soothing to the eye and so lovingly captured by cinematographer Shaji Kumar".

[113] Anjana George of The Times of India also gave a positive review, highlighting its visuals and saying, "while beautifully showcasing the chemistry between Lal [Mohanlal] and Kamalini, the director has also tried to capture the magical splendour of forest.

"[114] On 11 October 2016, in response to audience demand, Sundar released the theme song attached with a video of the making of the film.