The film tells the story of Thomas Chacko (Mohanlal), who is known by the sobriquet Aadu Thoma, a young ruffian estranged from his narcissistic father, Chacko Mash (Thilakan), upon failing to meet the latter's high expectations. "Spadikam" received critical acclaim and was the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year, grossing more than ₹5 crore at the box office. Mohanlal won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor, at the Filmfare Awards South, the film won Best Film – Malayalam, Best Actor (Mohanlal) and Best Director awards. The film was remade in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada languages.