In 2003 he was given permission by the principal to graduate early so that he could begin rehearsals for Bombay Dreams, a West-End musical produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

He stayed on at the National Theatre to perform three plays, including The Alchemist directed by Nicholas Hytner, for which he was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award.

He also portrayed a principal role in The Man of Mode, alongside Tom Hardy, Rory Kinnear and Hayley Atwell.

His most notable roles include Sunny in BBC One's Hospital People, Fred in Channel 4's Crashing, Torque in The Witcher for Netflix, and Faisal Bhatti in Happy Valley.

[2][3][4] Shah's first major part in a feature film was in 2014 for The Hundred-Foot Journey in which he starred alongside Helen Mirren and Om Puri.