To get the right donkey for the movie, the director travelled to Sirham, a village on top of the mountains, since Kashmir had only mules and no donkeys.
Pakeezah took nearly 14 years to shoot because of a change in relationship between Meena Kumari and Kamal Amrohi the director from warm to worse and then back to a compromise. Meena Kumari and Kamal Amrohi were married when Pakeezah was first conceived.
