Yash Johar, the well-known film producer and founder of Dharma Productions, was born on 6 September 1929 in Amritsar, Punjab. He began his career in Hindi cinema as a publicist in the early 1950s. He joined Sunil Dutt's independent production house Ajanta Arts in the early 1960s and assisted the star actor-director as production controller on Mujhe Jeene Do (1963) and Yeh Rastey Hain Pyar Ke (1963).

Thereafter, Johar switched to Dev Anand's Navketan Films and assisted him in the production of Guide (1965), Jewel Thief (1967), Prem Pujari (1970), and Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971).

When Yash Johar branched out on his own by setting up Dharma Productions after more than 11 years with Navketan, he met with early success. His first film, Dostana (1980), directed by Raj Khosla, another Navketan alumnus, and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha and Zeenat Aman, was a big hit. Over the next two decades, Johar produced a number of films under the Dharma banner, notable among them being Mukul S Anand's Agneepath (1990), Mahesh Bhatt's Gumraah (1993) and Bhatt's Duplicate (1998). Some of these films were also hits.

The production house met with unparalleled success, however, when Yash Johar's son Karan made his directorial debut with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). The film won numerous awards and was adjudged Best Film at the 44th Filmfare awards, Lux Zee Cine awards, Bollywood Movie awards, and the National film awards.

Karan Johar's second film as director, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), broke all box-office records and entered the Top Five on the UK charts.

Yash Johar's last production was his son's Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), which turned out to be the second highest grossing Hindi film in India and the top grossing Hindi film overseas that year.

Yash Johar also helped to establish Dreams Limited, a company owned by Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza, in 1999 and was associated with the production of their film Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustaani (2000).

He died of cancer on 26 June 2004 in Mumbai. Karan Johar continues to run Dharma Productions successfully, though he helms only a few of its films.