The story unfolds in a remote village near Palani called Kanakkanpatti, where Marimuthu (Vishnu Vishal) is a poor goat herd who lost his education as his father died when he was 13.

Marimuthu, along with his childhood friends Ayyappan (Hari Vairavan), Sekar (Nitish Veera), Murthy (Maayi Sundar), Appukutty (Appukutty), Subramani (Soori), and Pandi (Ramesh Pandiyan), are kabbadi players who dream of winning a local tournament.

Subramani is a newlywed man who has only three hobbies: eating thrice as normal, playing kabbadi, and making love.

In a subplot, Marimuthu meets and flirts with an unnamed beautiful young lady (Saranya Mohan) who comes visiting to his village's annual festival.

The team progresses through the tournament into the final despite the myriad hurdles and disadvantages, with the help of Savadamuthu, who gives them very hard coaching.

Hence, they poison Sekar's mind stating that the Railways will choose one player from each finalists, and he must prevent Marimuthu from playing in finals to get the job for himself.

It is revealed later that Marimuthu died as his heart stopped due to the sudden shock he received when the opposite player kicked him in his chest and both fell down.

According to director Suseenthiran, the film is based on real life incidents as his father was a kabbadi player.

[2] After being offered by Anand Chakravarthy, Vishnu made his acting debut with the film and he spent months preparing for the role.

Rediff wrote "With its superb ensemble cast and script, Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu scores the match-point".

[7] Times of India wrote "On the whole, Vennila Kabbadi Kuzhu is a movie that is different from commercial clich��s ushering hope and confidence in Tamil cinema".