After his return to India in 1994, Hussain joined the mobile 'Hengul Theater' in Assam, where he worked for three years, before moving to Delhi. and later
Goodbye Desdemona also directed by
Roysten Abel. He remained the artistic director and Trainer of the Society for Artists and Performers in
Hampi from 2004 to 2007, He is also a visiting faculty at his alma mater, the National School of Drama. On television, he appeared in the lead role, in the detective series
Jasoos Vijay (2002–2003), produced by
BBC World Service Trust. Though he had appeared in a few
Assamese films, though his first major role was in
Saif Ali Khan-
Kareena Kapoor Khan starrer
Agent Vinod released in early 2012. In the same year, he appeared in Italian director Italo Spinelli's
Gangor,
Mira Nair's
The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and
Ang Lee's
Life of Pi. After these he acted in
Aditya Bhattacharya's
Bombay Most Wanted and
Partho Sen-Gupta's
Sunrise. His next role as Inspector K. N. Singh was in the
Ranveer Singh-
Sonakshi Sinha Lootera under
Vikramaditya Motwane's direction. This followed with Amit Vats' comedy
Boyss Toh Boyss Hain, the story of four young men with similar problems in life, who eventually find their way to true love. Hussain opened 2014 with the Assamese film
Raag: The Rhythm of Love playing Iqbal, which marked his first Assamese film in a lead role.
Sringkhal and
Rodor Sithi were his other Assamese releases in the year. He was also seen in Hindi films like
Kaanchi: The Unbreakable as a CBI officer,
The Xposé as Rajan starring
Himesh Reshammiya in the lead, and
Tigers as Bilal starring
Emraan Hashmi.
Tigers, based on a real-life story about a salesman, was screened at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. His first lead role in a Hindi film came with the drama
Zed Plus as Aslam Puncturewala. Hussain had his maximum number of film appearances in 2015 as he had releases in English, Hindi, Bengali and his first Tamil and Marathi movies. His Hindi movies include
Main Aur Charles as Amod Kant,
Jai Ho Democracy as Major Baruah, and
Angry Indian Goddesses as a police superintendent. He debuted in Tamil cinema with
Yatchan portraying the significant role of Selvam/Vetri, He also worked in his first Marathi movie
Sunrise as Joshi. His Bengali film of the year was
Arindam Sil's mystery thriller
Har Har Byomkesh as Zamindar Deepnarayan Singh. His 2016 projects include the drama film
Parched directed by
Leena Yadav, which premiered at the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It is about four women who lead a tightly controlled-by-traditions life in a village in Rajasthan. His other project in the year is the action thriller
Force 2 directed by
Abhinay Deo featuring
John Abraham and
Sonakshi Sinha in the lead. His Assamese film in 2016 is
Kothanodi. Adil Hussain's 2017 releases include
Commando 2: The Black Money Trail,
Love Sonia,
Mantra,
Mukti Bhawan,
Dobaara: See Your Evil,
Kabuliwala, and
Naval Enna Jewel. In 2018, he acted in
S. Shankar's
2.0 as well as in
Aiyaary and
Bioscopewala. In 2022, Hussain became the first-ever personality to hoist the Indian National Flag in the Metaverse at the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' Metaverse event organised by Piro Space. ==Life membership==