He is one of the finest actor of the Indian cinema. In 2003, the Government of India honored him with the Padam Bhushan for his outstanding contributions towards Indian cinema. The actor has seen success in both mainstream Bollywood as well as Parallel Cinema. He also appeared in many international films including Captain Nemo in the Hollywood comic book The Leaque of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He appeared actively in Bollywood cinema with the film Hum Paanch in 1980. His next major success in films was film Karma in 1986 where he acted along with Dilip Kumar. Starring for films like jalwa, Hero, Hiralal. In 1988 he played opposite his wife Ratna Pathak as Inspector Ghote.
He is a talented actor as he has acted in several multi-starrer Bollywood films as well, such as, Tridev, Gulami, Hey Ram, Iqbaal, A Wednesday. In Vishwatma, he acted the negative role in Mohra that was the 100th film of the actor. Shah married to Bollywood actress Ratna Pathak Shah. They have a daughter, Heebaa, and two sons, Imaad and Vivaan. They have co-stared in the films like jane tu.., Mirsh Masala, The Perfect Murder.
