Vellaichaamy thinks the world of his three brothers to the point of even giving up marriage when he learns that the woman he loves plans to send them to a hostel after the wedding.

When Vellachamy learns that Muthu is in love with Gowri, he goes to the city to present his marriage proposal to his friend, only to be insulted.

Despite coming from a rich family, she helps out with household chores and has no airs about her, a fact appreciated by Vellaichaamy, his grandmother and his brothers.

Shanmugam, Muthu's younger brother, who is training to be an inspector, marries Vellaichamy's friend's daughter Sumathi.

In 1999, Vikraman met Aascar Ravichandran who earlier worked as a distributor for two decades, he was in interested in film production and asked scripts like Poove Unakkaga and Surya Vamsam.

[5] G. Dhananjayan in his book Pride of Tamil Cinema: 1931 to 2013 wrote that the film's success can "also attributed to its superhit songs".

[7] The Hindu gave the film a favourable review, remarking that "Vijaykanth excels in comedy and Ramesh Kanna has all the makings of a good comedian", "S. N. Lakshmi as the grandmother is hilarious and adds levity to the film as a whole" and that "Prabhu Deva and Kousalya form an energetic, sprightly pair."

The critic also noted that "sentiment and sibling love fail to appeal after a point, when they reach implausible levels".

[10] Ayyappa Prasad of Screen noted "Vikraman, who is known for his deft screenplay and story line, has once again created a family entertainer which pulls at your heart strings and brings out the best of Vijayakanth in a dual role.

"[11] Vaanathaippola subsequently went on to become the most commercially successful Tamil film of the year, running for over 250 days in cinemas.

[9][15] In 2009, Vikraman and Vijayakanth came back together to make another family drama film titled Mariyadhai, though failed to replicate the success of Vaanathaippola.