[3] His decisive film was Rattan (1944), which was produced by his brother Jaimini Diwan, and this movie turned out to be the biggest hit of 1944.

His other important films were Zeenat (1945), Lahore (1949), Dahej, Pardes (both 1950), Bahar (1951) and Teen Batti Char Raasta (1953).

Dewan Karan Chopra, youngest of three brothers was born on 6 November 1917, at Gujranwala, Punjab (now in Pakistan), British India.

He studied in Lahore, where he became interested in journalism and started editing a film magazine in Urdu, Jagat Lakshmi.

One of the local distributors he met was Tarachand Barjatya, who was then the Manager of Chandanmal Inder Kumar's distribution office at Lahore.

In 1944, Karan Dewan acted in Rattan, a musical romantic drama, directed by M. Sadiq, which became one of the most popular films of that year.

[8] In 1945, Bhai Jan was a successful Muslim social family melodrama, which starred Dewan with Noor Jehan, Shah Nawaz, Meena Shorey and Anees Khatoon.

Directed by Shaukat Hussain Rizvi, it had music by Mir Saheb with several popular songs sung by Noor Jehan.

[11] 1948 had Dewan acting in films such as Phir Bhi Apna Hai, Chand Chakori with Swaranlata, and Piya Ghar Aaja with Meena Kumari.

It co-starred Dewan with Meena Kumari, Aga Jan and S. N. Tripathi, with music composed by Bulo C Rani.

[13] Duniya (1949), directed by S. F. Hasnain, under the Fazli Brothers banner, had music by C. Ramchandra and starred Suraiya with Karan Dewan, Yakub, and Shakila.

[17] Pardes, a silver jubilee hit, directed by Sadiq, had Madhubala and Rehman in a social family drama with music by Ghulam Mohammed.

The directors he worked with that year ranged from Om Prakash; Duniya Gol Hai, Shakti Samanta; Bahu, Roop K. Shorey; Jalwa, Dhirubhai Desai; Oonchi Haveli.

In 1956, Dewan acted in another production from M. Sadiq; Chhoo Mantar (Hocus Pocus), starring opposite Shyama, Anita Guha and Johnny Walker.

The cast included Nutan, Mala Sinha, Kishore Kumar and Johnny Walker, with popular songs such as "Aankh Milane Ke Liye", sung by Geeta Dutt.

Some of his important films during this period included Shaheed (1965), Aamne Samne (1967), Jeene Ki Raah (1969), Maa Aur Mamta (1970), Nadaan (1971), Shehzada (1972), Jalte Badan (1973), Kala Sona (1975), Bhanwar (1976) and Atmaram (1979).

Dewan married actress-singer Manju, who had earlier worked in Aadmi and its (original) Marathi version Manoos in 1939, in a character role.