"anbu" was released on 24 july 1953. natesh art pictures distributed the film themselves in madras and select regions, while others did so for other regions in tamil nadu. "kumudam", a tamil weekly published the review of this film in a unique way. it was written as such, the characters in the film were telling about their roles. this prompted natesan to go for a defamation case against the weekly. however, the legal adviser of the weekly settled the matter amicably with natesan. the film was dubbed into telugu with the title "apeksha".