He was born on 16 February 1920, in Talagang (Now in Pakistan), British India. He completed MA degree in Economics and Politics before completing his LLB.[2] In 1947, during the Partition crisis, Johar was visiting Patiala with his family for a wedding, when riots broke out back home in Lahore. He could never go back, and thereafter he worked in Jalandhar for a while, and his family remained in Delhi,[3] before he eventually moved to Bombay, where he made his acting debut with Roop K Shorey's, Ek Thi Ladki (1949)