 According to The Times of India, Anbe Vaa emerged an "uncommon triumph" for M. G. Ramachandran, who had previously acted mainly in "scrappily made cop and robber flicks". It was one of several films featuring Ramachandran which he used to propagate his ideologies during his election campaigns. Actor and film historian Mohan V. Raman noted that M. G. Ramachandran's acceptance of the role "that went against the then accepted formula for an MGR film" was a demonstration of the actor's faith in Tirulokchandar. Likewise, The Times of India noted, "A C Thirulokchander [...] had imbibed the deportment by observing his role model L V Prasad - that film stars looked up to him. So much so that even the usually interfering MGR allowed himself to be moulded under the filmmaker's baton in the film Anbe Vaa (1966)."
