Raj Khosla initially entered the Film Industry with hopes of making it as a playback singer. He however went on to become one of the greatest but most underrated directors of Hindi Cinema.

Struggling to make it on the playback scene, Dev Anand recommended he assist Guru Dutt on the Navketan production, Baazi (1951). He not only assisted Guru Dutt but became great friends with him as he also assisted him on Jaal (1952), Baaz (1953) and Aar Paar (1954) even playing bit roles in Baazi and Jaal. During the making of Jaal, Guru Dutt did ask SD Burman to take Khosla for the Yeh Raat Yeh Chandni Phir Kahan song but he failed the test.

Khosla got his independent break with Milap (1955), starring Dev Anand and Geeta Bali. Though the film, based on Frank Capra's classic Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936), failed to create much waves, the film shows enough of his craft to suggest he was destined for better things. There is a certain control over the narrative and the fine picturization of the songs, always a strength of Khosla's and something picked up from mentor Guru Dutt.

Khosla's second film CID (1956), produced by mentor Guru Dutt propelled him into the big league. The film represents one of the most polished crime thrillers, prevalent in Hindi cinema on the 1950s. The suspense portions are extremely well handled and integrated seamlessly with other elements like romance and music to produce a high calibre fast-paced thriller. a slick crime thriller that further highlighted Khosla's stylish shot taking and innovative song picturisations.

From here onwards even as he continued to make films, Khosla ricocheted from style to style while adding his own touch to each genre. Never wanting to play safe Khosla made some films, which were startlingly different in those times. Solva Saal (1958) was a story of a single night wherein a girl elopes with her lover who dupes her and is helped back home by a journalist before her father wakes up and realizes what the girl has done. Bombai ka Babu (1960) had the hero, a killer, entering the family of the man he has killed as their long lost son and falling in love with his 'sister.' Khosla explored a variety of styles be it crime thrillers (CID, Kala Pani (1958)), musicals (Ek Musafir Ek Haseena (1962) - whose starting point was seven songs composed by OP Nayyar!), suspense thrillers (Woh Kaun Thi (1964), Mera Saaya (1966), Anita (1967) - his mystery trilogy with actress Sadhana), melodramas (Do Badan (1966), Do Raaste (1969)) dacoit dramas (Mera Gaon Mera Desh (1971) - which inspired Sholay (1975)) etc. Special mention must be made of Woh Kaun Thi.

Woh Kaun Thi is loosely adapted from Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, which even Guru Dutt had tried to film earlier but, ultimately dissatisfied with the production, he had abandoned it. The ill-fated project titled Raaz starred Guru Dutt himself with Waheeda Rehman and Kum Kum and was to be music director RD Burman's debut making film. Guru Dutt gave the rights of Raaz free of cost to Khosla when the latter decided to make Woh Kaun Thi. The film sees Khosla create a mysteriously adequate ambience from fog-filled nights to creaky doors to abandoned old houses right from its opening on a dark stormy night. He handles the suspense elements well to keep the film and its plot moving along at an engrossing enough level with enough red herrings thrown in to keep the viewer hooked on to the events unfolding on screen. Where the films fails, however, is the final denouement, which, when it comes, is pretty weak.

Though he made films after Mera Gaon Mera Desh and had hits like Nehle Pe Dehla (1976), the mid 1970s was not too good a period for Khosla. Films like Prem Kahani (1975) starring the then hottest pair of the day Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz did not do as well as expected and it was with Main Tulsi Tere Aangan ki (1978) that Khosla was right back on track. In Main Tulsi Tere Aangan ki, he evoked sympathy for the mistress even as he told the story from the wife's point of view. Khosla was a director who understood women and was known as a women's director much like George Cukor in Hollywood.

However, Khosla again ran into rough weather as most of his films after Main Tulsi Tere Aangan ki barring Dostana (1980) with Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman and Shatrughan Sinha started flopping. A dispirited Khosla took refuge in drink and passed away in 1991, totally disillusioned with the Film industry. As he said...

"It's a losing game. There are no winners here."