 He was a first cousin to Pakistani writers Jaun Elia and Rais Amrohvi.In 1938, he left Amroha to study in Lahore, now part of Pakistan, where singer K. L. Saigal discovered him and took him to Mumbai (Bombay) to work for Sohrab Modi's Minerva Movietone film company, where he started his career working on films like "Jailor" (1938), "Pukar" (1939), "Bharosa" (1940), A. R. Kardar's film (Shahjehan 1946).He made his debut as a director in 1949, with "Mahal", starring Madhubala and Ashok Kumar, which was a musical hit, with songs by Lata Mangeshkar and Rajkumari Dubey.