Initially Roy had planned to cast Paidi Jairaj, Trilok Kapoor and Nazir Hussain in the lead, then he saw the performance of Balraj Sahni in "Hum Log" (1951) and decided to cast him. This decision of Roy was criticised by his team as Sahni had mostly done rich roles. To better prepare for the role, Balraj Sahni actually rehearsed for the role by pulling a rickshaw on the streets of Calcutta. He interacted with many rickshaw pullers and some of them were facing the same situation as portrayed in the movie. Actress Nirupa Roy had mostly done the role of Hindu goddess in several mythological films till that time. She was cast in the role of Parvati. She wept in real for her scenes in the film, saying, "this is the first film I didn't use glycerine for tears."