x National Awards in total. He also collected four Filmfare Awards South, six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, and a Nandi Award. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri in 2004.

Bharathiraja earned the honorific Iyakkunar Imayam - pinnacle of directors. His later work showed continued commercial instinct;  Kizhakku Cheemaiyile  connected with a new generation of audiences in the 1990s, as did the award-winning  Karuththamma.  Both films are rural dramas.

He is survived by his wife, Chandraleela, and daughter Janani. His son, actor-director Manoj Bharathiraja, predeceased him in March 2025.