After Laawaris (1981), Prakash Mehra decided he wanted to move on to something more intense for Amitabh Bachchan and wrote Zindagi Ek Juaa. The financiers and producers all rejected the script as the film was too bold and serious for that time. So Prakash later moved on to Namak Halaal (1982), as it was comedy and would work better for mainstream cinema.