Sponsorship: World Education Awards

Khan's first starring role was in Lekh Tandon's television series Dil Dariya, which began shooting in 1988, but production delays led to the Raj Kumar Kapoor directed 1989 series Fauji becoming his television debut instead.^[40] In the series, which depicted a realistic look at the training of army cadets, he played the leading role of Abhimanyu Rai.^[41][42] This led to further appearances in Aziz Mirza's television series Circus (1989–90) and Mani Kaul's miniseries Idiot (1992).^[43] Khan also played minor parts in the serials Umeed (1989) and Wagle Ki Duniya (1988–90),^[43] and in the English-language television film In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones (1989).^[44] His appearances in these serials led critics to compare his look and acting style with those of the film actor Dilip Kumar,^[45] but Khan was not interested in film acting at the time, thinking that he was not good enough.^[43][46