In 1938 he decided to make a film version of Premchand's novel Bazaar-e-Husn and bought the rights for ₹4,000 (worth ₹72 lakh in 2021 prices).

While Balayogini was about the travails of widows, Sevasadanam dealt with domestic abuse, prostitution and women's liberation.

[5] Ananda Vikatan favourably reviewed the film on 8 May 1938: We should always expect somethings from Subramaniam's direction – for instance depiction of social ills..

[7] The veteran Marxist leader N. Sankaraiah, has described Seva Sadhanam as an "unusual film" for choosing the subject of marriages between young girls and old men (which had social sanction).

In the climax, the aged husband, now a totally changed man, was shown as casting aside with utter contempt his `sacred thread', which symbolises his Brahmin superiority.