Mohanlal won the Kerala State Film Awards for Best Actor for his performance, and the film additionally won 5 more state awards.
The film won four National Film Awards.
The film introduced Dolby Stereo in Malayalam Cinema.
The producers wanted the title Kala Pani for the Hindi dubbed version but Mukesh Duggal refused to part with it. He was producing a film titled Kala Pani with Ajay Devgan, Karishma Kapoor and Sunil Shetty. The film eventually was shelved.
The Hindi dubbed version was distributed by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, it was a major commercial success, grossing more than 6.5 Crore at the box office.