In the film, Ramachandran's character initially sports a beard and beret, taking inspiration from the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara.[1]
Soundtrack
The music was composed by K. V. Mahadevan, with lyrics by Kannadasan.[2] The song "Uzhaikkum Kaigale" conveys Ramachandran's leftist beliefs, and highlights "the role of the worker in building society".[1]
Thanippiravi was released on 16 September 1966 in most centres, and on 18 September in Madras (now Chennai).[3][4]Kalki said the film stood out compared to other Tamil films with regards to action and romance sequences.[5] The film was not commercially successful, having run for ten weeks in theatres.[1] Since Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa appeared as the gods Murugan and Valli in a dream sequence, many of the actors' fans worshipped pictures of the actors in their goddess avatars as if worshipping the actual gods.[6][7]