The film stars Arya, John Kokken, Shabeer Kallarakkal, Dushara Vijayan, Pasupathy, Anupama Kumar and Sanchana Natarajan.

In March 2023, a sequel was announced with the working title Sarpatta Parambarai: Round 2 with Ranjith returning as director and Arya reprising his role.

His mother Bakkiyam forbids this, as Munirathnam's fighting prowess led him to be killed in an ambush by a rival gang, but Kabilan's Anglo-Indian godfather Kevin (nicknamed 'Daddy') secretly supports his boxing passion.

After a heated debate, Daddy challenges 'Dancing Rose' – a respected retired boxer nicknamed for his legendary footwork – to fight Kabilan.

Kabilan recovers from an injury to the back of the head and decides to quit boxing and live a modest life with Bakkiyam and his wife Mariyamma.

Their undertaking is initially illegal but Ventri uses his connections as a member of Tamil Nadu's ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party to legitimize the business and grow rich while employing Kabilan as a henchman.

The technical crew includes cinematographer Murali G. and editor Selva R. K..[10] When we had a workshop, he had people from the 1970s coming in to tell us how boxing was at those times and how they prepared.

To portray a boxer, Arya underwent six hours of daily training for seven months, with a combination of cardio, boxing and regular gym.

[43] The political ideologies[44] are absent Ranjith's previous films Madras, Kabali and Kaala, which focus on the life of the lower-class people and caste system in Hinduism.[44][relevant?]

[45][46] In one scene, the film shows the Indian Republic Party (IRP), rooted from Ambedkar's Scheduled Castes Federation.

[31][47] Harish Wankhede in his critical review in The Hindu[46] argues that Kabilan, though not significantly different stands distinctly[clarify] from Ranjith's earlier masculine Dalit heroes.

We see Kabilan first as a spectator of a boxing match, then becoming an underdog boxer and, by overcoming the traditional social obstacles, the ultimate champion of the sport.

Sarpatta "thus escapes the typical social burden of the Dalit hero [and places him] as a young sportsperson who plays the game with dedication and grit".

[48] Sarpatta Paramabarai is set in the 1970s and to reflect the era, political incidents such as The Emergency, imposed by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi during 1975–77 and its opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, then followed by the splitting of the party into two, the latter as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) by M. G. Ramachandran was portrayed in the film in order to be "realistic".

[49][51] The film also shows the DMK government being dismissed by the central government in January 1976, over its stand against emergency, and real footages of the arrests of the party members, including politician M. Karunanidhi's son, M. K. Stalin, during the Maintenance of Internal Security (MISA) Act was shown in the film.

[31][52] As a result, there were difficulties in organising boxing matches and the boxers and kabaddi players turned into mercenaries, following lack of employment.

[59] A report said that the film had been watched over multiple households living across 3,200 towns and cities in India, and was further streamed in more than 150 countries and territories across the world.

[60] An image featuring Kabilan (Arya) and Rangan Vaathiyar (Pasupathy), was widely parodied by netizens and used in internet memes.

[61] M. Suganth of The Times of India, rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and praised the casting and production design for recreating the setting.

He noted that the "social and political undertones" provide a parallel secondary plot "of a community which has to fight ... to reclaim its rights".

[63] Srinivasa Ramanujam of The Hindu praised Pa. Ranjith for the setting of North Madras in the 1970s, and further said that "the incorporating of elements such as caste conflict and the question of pride into the sporting milleu makes the film an engaging watch".

[64] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote that the film enlivens the historical era and its culture, with the script, sound and production lifting the formulaic genre story toward an "enlightening period chronicle".

[65] Giving the film a score of 3.5 stars (out of 5), Manoj Kumar R. of The Indian Express wrote that through its attemps at authenticity it takes the "first baby steps" toward improving a dismal genre in Tamil cinema.

[69] Prahlad Srihari of The Quint gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and found its execution of a formulaic underdog story to be underwhelming.

"[71] Sudhir Srinivasan of Cinema Express wrote "With this film, Ranjith continues to jab at Indian mythology, while throwing strong punches at anyone who doesn't stand for equality".

This was not shown in the film[31] and former AIADMK Tamil Nadu fisheries minister D. Jayakumar criticised Ranjith for portraing Ramachandran in a poor light.

[87][88] A sequel was announced in March 2023, which was tentatively titled as Sarpatta Parambarai: Round 2 with Ranjith returning to direction and Arya reprising his role as Kabilan Munirathnam.