There were reports that Rajesh Khanna was originally signed for Raj Babbar's role and Raj Babbar was signed the role eventually done by Rajesh Khanna. Rajesh told B.R. Chopra to switch the roles as he thought Raj Babbar's role was the better one. Not wanting to cause a unpleasant situation for his mentor, Raj Babbar told Chopra is was okay if the roles were switched. B.R.Chopra denied the story but many sources stated this was indeed what occurred.
Rekha had done the dubbing for Smita Patil in this movie due to her sudden death.
This is B.R.Chopra's final film as director. After Awam he was to direct Baghbaan with Dilip Kumar but it dint happen. Baghbaan was made 10 years later with Amitabh Bachchan. Also Dev Kumar daughter Manisha, was introduced in important role in awaam, a good actress but went unnoticed.
Avam was ahead of its time.
When the story idea of Awam came into B.R.Chora's mind he was very excited that he saw a piace of paper and started to write.