The film ran for more than 100 days in theaters. The film's Telugu dubbed version released with the same title achieved considerable success at Andhra Pradesh box office. The Tamil version Ashokan was also a major box office success.
Master Siddharth Lama won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist for his performance in the film.
The film achieved a cult status in Malayalam cinema, with most of the dialogues becoming iconic catchphrases. Many of the dialogues between Mohanlal and Jagathy Sreekumar were non-scripted and were improvised while filming.
The dubbed Hindi version Dharam Yoddha did not have a theatrical release in British Columbia, Canada.