Made on a budget of ₹15 million (US$170,000),[2] the film is based on the cases of groom kidnapping reported in Bihar in India.

Mahendra tries to convince Madhukar to marry his son Raghuveer to his daughter and even offers dowry.

Raghuveer asks for the cause and the Mahendra tells him that he has abducted him to marry his daughter Janki (Swati Sen).

Mahendra's wife tells him that it is not right to forcibly make someone marry their daughter as it will be a crime carrying big consequences.

After hearing this Madhukar becomes worried about Raghuveer and lodges a complaint in the police station to find his missing son.

As the wedding preparations are going, for Raghuveer new suit is stitched and his shave is done and the haldi ceremony takes place for Janki.

Janki feels Raghuveer caressing her shoulder she looks at him and tries to kiss him but he wakes up and angrily sits on the armchair.

Raghuveer escapes from that place and takes a bus and suddenly hear Janki's voice he wakes up revealing it is dream.

A policeman comes to Mahendra's house to inform him that Raghuveer's father has lodged a missing complaint of his son and he is a very powerful person.

When Raghuveer wakes up he sees broken bangles on the bed and remembers he forcibly had sex with Janki.

Back in Bihar, Janki is pregnant and her father tells her to go to Raghuveer's parents house to live with them.

But Madhukar angrily tells Mahendra that if he again come to his house he will use his political power and jail him up and insults Janki that she has got pregnant with someone else's child and not with Raghuveer.

[5] Sushil Rajpal, who graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), always wanted to make movies on social issues and highlighting people's agony.

He even forayed into the Hindi cinema industry by shooting Pradeep Sarkar's Laaga Chunari Mein Daag.

The practice started becoming noticeable towards the late 20th century because the brides' families found it difficult to meet these demands.

[6][7] For this film, he wanted to shoot real-life situations and cast actors who could speak with a local accent.

The director's intention was to highlight the result of such forced marriage and the emotional damage that both the girl and the boy suffer from.

[3] The film does not have established actors, because Rajpal wanted people who looked real and could deliver dialogues with a rural appeal.

Actor Raj Singh Chaudhary, who earlier featured in Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal, plays the male lead.

[8] Swati Sen, an FTII graduate, debuted as an actor by portraying the female protagonist in this film.

[1] In a show of support, directors Anurag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali and Rajkumar Hirani promoted the film's commercial release.

[11] On the other hand, director Hirani praised Rajpal's directorial debut by saying that the film looked realistic.

"[14] While summarising, Kazmi appreciated the performances of the entire cast and said that the film deserved to win the National Award.

[14] Taran Adarsh applauded the first-time director for handling a number of sequences with great elan.

[16][17][18][19] Antardwand is one of the films featured in Avijit Ghosh's book, 40 Retakes: Bollywood Classics You May Have Missed.