A.K. Hangal and Sanjeev Kumar had a long history together. They had worked together in stage theatre. Hangal was against acting in films and was angry when Sanjeev started taking roles in films. Sanjeev started arriving late for rehearsals and Hangal had enough. He told Sanjeev he would no longer be taking him in any future plays. They both had a good laugh about this when they met each other on the sets of Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke.
The film was presented by Dharmendra. This was done as a favour to his secretary Dinanath Shastri who debuted as a producer in this film.
This film was adapted for the Hindi film "Sautela Bhai" (1996). B.R. Ishara, the director of "Sautela Bhai" (1996), wrote the dialogues for this film.
The film was dedicated to the memory of lyricist Shailendra who had been signed for the film but died shortly before its Mahurat in 1966. According to Shailendra's son Dinesh, Shankar of Shankar - Jaikishan had dissuaded his father from working with Laxmikant - Pyarelal earlier. It was Dinanath Shastri, the producer of this film and a good friend of Shailendra, who convinced the lyricist to work with Laxmikant - Pyarelal for this film. This would have been their first film together. Its title was probably inspired by a song written by Shailendra for the film "Do Bigha Zamin" (1953). Majrooh Sultanpuri was brought on board for the film after Shailendra's death.