She was married to famous film producer-director Sohrab Modi.
Her father, Nawab Sidi Ibrahim Mohammad Yakut Khan III, was the Nawab of Sachin, near Surat in the state of Gujarat.
Starting her career in the late 1920s with small roles in films like Second Wife (1928), Indira B. A. (1929) and Jayant (1929), she went on to do character roles before acting in the lead opposite Ashraf Khan in Veer Kunal (1932).
Mehtab acted in her early feature film Kamaal-e-Shamsheer (1930) with W. M. Khan, which was produced by her mother under Excelsior film company.
Mehtab received the Best Actress award in a Hindi film for Parakh at the 8th Annual BFJA Awards.