[citation needed] In 1940, he played perhaps his most well known role in Mehboob Khan's Aurat where he acted opposite Sardar Akhtar.
Sehra was a box office failure and Ahuja suffered financial losses due to which his career went into decline.
The losses Ahuja suffered from his home productions resulted in him selling off his Bungalow in Mumbai's Carter Road in Bandra and shifting his entire family to a chawl in Virar in the early 1960s.
[3] His health failed during this time and his wife Nirmala had to work as a singer on radio and touring concerts to provide for the family of three daughters and two sons.
[4] Arun lived a reclusive life after leaving the film industry and died in 1998 at the age of 81 of a heart attack.
[citation needed] Several of his grandchildren would go on to become actors in the film and television industry including Vinay Anand, Krishna Abhishek, Ragini Khanna, Aarti Singh, Soumya Seth and Tina Ahuja.