In 1999, he made his adult debut in Ram Gopal Varma's "Mast", for which he received the Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut and Star Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer- Male. Subsequently, he featured in several commercially successful films, including, "Kasoor" (2001) for which he received Zee Cine Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role and a nomination for Filmfare Best Villain Award, "Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai" (2002), "Awara Paagal Deewana" (2002), "Hungama" (2003), "Masti" (2004) for which he won Bollywood Movie Award for Best Comedian.