He came to Bombay on the advice of an Ajanta Cinetone representative and was offered a role in the film Afzal, also called Hoor-E-Haram in 1933, directed by Mohan Bhavnani.
He turned from character roles to comedy performing in Dr. Madhurika (1935), directed by Sarvottam Badami, Deccan Queen (1936) and Do Diwaane (1936), by C. Luhar.
[4] His later memorable roles were in some of Raj Kapoor's films such as Boot Polish (1954), in which he lip-synced to the song "Lapak Jhapak Tu Aa Re Badariya", sung by Manna De in Raga Adhana,[5] also in Shri 420 (1955) and Ab Dilli Dur Nahin (1957).
Another reason for his name, Bhudo (old man), was due to his toothless smile; his edentia reportedly was caused by a hereditary disorder.
The scene is referred to by author Rahaim, as an example of a "model of stillness", where the singer holds the tone with the audience watching awe-struck in frozen silence.
In 1977, he acted in his last feature film Shatranj Ke Khiladi, based on a short story written by Munshi Premchand.
The ensemble cast included Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, Richard Attenborough, Tom Alter, Victor Bannerjee and Farooq Sheikh.