The film was banned due to the lead character's similarities with the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It was later re-released.
Gulzar stated "There's a story behind the selection of Suchitra Sen. J. Om Prakash, the producer, had called me for a story, which he wanted me to direct. Written by Sachin Bhowmik, it was a thriller set in a hospital or something, and he said that we could cast Sanjeev and Suchitra, and Sanjeev was, in any case, very keen to work with her. So Sachin Bhowmik had written the story accordingly, keeping the two actors in mind. In that meeting, Sachin Bhowmik, Sanjeev and J. Om Prakash were all present. I didn't particularly like the story - it was ordinary, a typical bambaiya plot. So, I said that it wouldn't be right to call Suchitra Sen all the way to Bombay to hear that story. Why should she do such a film? The first person in that room to react to my comment was Sachin Bhowmik. He said, 'You are right, absolutely right. This is Bombay, you can call many actors from here, but if you call Suchitra Sen, the story has to be something different.' When he said this, everyone else in the room agreed. , I'd already been thinking about Aandhi for quite sometime, so I decided it was the right time to narrate the story to everyone in the room. So I told them what I had in mind - two characters and their relationship, how it gets broken, she becomes a politician and we didn't have movies on politicians at the time, and viewers had not seen actual politics, how it worked behind the scenes. I narrated just the basic plot and they all reacted positively. So J. Om Prakash said, 'Do you have this story on paper? Can you write it?' I asked for some time, and promised to share a synopsis in about two-three weeks. 'If you like it, then we can work it out,' I said. And he said, I meet Suchitra Sen by the end of next month, or a month and a half or two months, or whatever. All this happened in that span of two months. As promised, I brought the synopsis in around two weeks' time because I already had the basic premise in my mind, not the entire story, so I began working on it. And that's how Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar came together to work in a film.".
"Mister Niteroi" by Black Alien sampled "Tere Bina Zindagi Se".
The song "Tere Bina Zindagi Se" was sampled in the international song "Tere Bina Zindagi" from the album "betcha havent heard this before" by Cosmos.
Life imitates art or art imitates life. Can be either depending on whether Gulzar wrote the script in 1975 after separating from Raakhee; or the script had been written 5 years earlier as backed by some source. Raakhee pursued her professional ambitions after they separated and went on to become an A-list actress until 1982 when she transitioned to supporting roles. The couple remained friends. They jointly brought up their only daughter Meghana.