Khan made a memorable debut with Ramesh Sippy's Shaan in 1980 as the happy-go-lucky underworld informer, Abdul. Later he also acted in films like Ghulami, Arth and Angaar. He became a popular figure on the small screen thanks to an impressive performance in Ramesh Sippy's Buniyaad. Khan turned to direction with Gang, launched in 1988. But this ambitious project starring Jackie Shroff, Nana Patekar, Kumar Gaurav and Jaaved Jaafri was indefinitely delayed due to financial difficulties. He had recently wrapped up major portions of the film and just needed to shoot two songs to complete the project.

Khan is survived by three sons,Azhar, Azaan and Zahaan, from his two marriages with former model Rubina and later actress Zeenat Aman.