Sathyu had long been associated with the leftist Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), thus most roles in the film were played by stage actors from IPTA troupes in Delhi, Mumbai and Agra. The role of family patriarch, Salim Mirza was played by Balraj Sahni, also known to Sathyu through IPTA, and for whom this was to be his last important film role, and according to many his finest performance. The role of his wife was played by Shaukat Azmi, wife of film's writer Kaifi Azmi, and also associated with IPTA. Farooq Shaikh, a law student in Mumbai, till then had done small roles in IPTA plays, made his film debut with the role of Sikandar. The role of Balraj Sahni's mother was first offered to noted singer Begum Akhtar, which she refused, later Badar Begum played the role. The locale of the Mirza mansion was an old haveli of R. S. Lal Mathur in Peepal Mandi, who helped the whole unit throughout the shooting. Mathur helped Sathyu find Badar Begum in a city brothel. Badar Begum was then in her 70s and almost blind due to cataracts. However, when she was sixteen years old, she ran away to Bombay to work in Hindi films, but soon ran out of money and only managed to get work as an extra in a Wadia Movietone film. She used the money to return to Agra, and eventually ended up in the red-light area of the city and ran a brothel in the area. Her voice was later dubbed in by actress Dina Pathak. The film's lead, Balraj Sahni however, died the day after he finished dubbing for the film. The soundtrack included a "qawwali" "Maula Salim Chishti", by Aziz Ahmed Khan Warsi, of Warsi Brothers.