[2]Tabassum made her film debut as a child actor with Nargis (1947) followed by Mera Suhaag (1947), Manjhdhar (1947) and Bari Behen (1949).

Later in Deedar (1951), directed by Nitin Bose, she played the childhood role of Nargis; the hit song Bachpan Ke Din Bhula Na Dena sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum was picturised on her.

She also worked in the popular film Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon starring Joy Mukherjee and Asha Parekh.

[4] Tabassum continued to work as an interviewer for television and was doing a TV show on TV Asia USA and Canada titled Abhi Toh Main Jawaan Hoon based on the Golden Era of Hindi Cinema directed by her son Hoshang Govil for 12 years[8] In 2016, she launched her channel on YouTube, titled "TabassumTalkies" Produced and Directed by her son Hoshang Govil who is carrying her legacy by hosting Tabassum Talkies which consists of nostalgic talks, interviews of celebrities, shayaris, jokes and more.

Their son Hoshang Govil (born 1961) had brief career as a lead in three films Tum Par Hum Qurbaan (1985), which was produced and directed by Tabassum and introduced Johnny Lever for the first time on screen as a comedian, Kartoot (1987) and Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeah (1996) produced by Zee TV and directed by J Om Prakash (grandfather of Hrithik Roshan).

[12] Various celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan,[13] Twinkle Khanna, Adnan Sami,[14] Asha Parekh, Waheeda Rehman, Deepti Naval and others condoled her death.