Shraddha Kapoor

Kapoor at a promotional event for Luv Ka The End in 2011

Kapoor made her acting debut in the 2010 drama Teen Patti, alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Ben Kingsley and R. Madhavan. She played the role of a college girl. The film received generally negative reviews, though her performance was better received. Preeti Arora, writing for Rediff.com stated that: "[t]hough a bit raw, she has a lot of potential."[28] Nikhat Kazmi reviewed: "Shraddha Kapoor makes an interesting debut as the edgy youngster who sheds her specs for sleaze, with alacrity."[29] Kapoor was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, but the film failed to do well at the box office.[30][31][32] After her debut, she signed a three-film deal with Yash Raj Films and featured in their 2011 teen comedy Luv Ka The End, with Taaha Shah.[33] Kapoor portrayed the lead role of a teenage student who plots against her boyfriend after he cheats on her.[34] The film underperformed at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics.[35] However, Kapoor's performance received a positive critical reception. Taran Adarsh wrote: "Shraddha is a revelation, catching you unaware with a confident performance. She's electrifying in the sequence when she breaks down after getting to know the true intentions of her lover."[36] For her performance, Kapoor received the Stardust Searchlight Award for Best Actress.[37] Kapoor was subsequently offered the lead female role in Aurangzeb as a part of her deal with Yash Raj Films. However, she signed on to Vishesh Films' Aashiqui 2 instead, thereby cancelling the three-film contract with Yash Raj Films.[33]

In 2013, Kapoor found her breakthrough role in Mohit Suri's romantic musical drama Aashiqui 2, the sequel to the 1990 film Aashiqui. She was cast as Aarohi Keshav Shirke, a small-town bar singer who becomes a successful playback artist with the help of a popular male singer (played by Aditya Roy Kapur). The film was a major box office success with a global revenue of ₹1.09 billion (US$15 million).[38][39] Film critic Anupama Chopra called Kapoor a "real triumph" and added that her "porcelain face has a haunting vulnerability."[40] However, Vinayak Chakravorty of India Today wrote that she "looks pretty [though] fails to add [...] spark."[41] Kapoor received several nominations in the Best Actress category, including one at the Filmfare Awards.[42] That year, she also appeared in a guest appearance for the romantic comedy Gori Tere Pyaar Mein, playing the fiancée of Imran Khan's character.[43]

Kapoor with Varun Dhawan during the promotions for ABCD 2 in 2015

Kapoor next reunited with Suri for the thriller Ek Villain (2014), for which she also sang the song "Galliyan".[44] The film tells the story of a hardened criminal (played by Sidharth Malhotra) whose terminally ill wife (played by Kapoor) is brutally murdered by a serial killer. The film was generally perceived to be plagiarised from the Korean film I Saw the Devil, although Suri claimed that it was an original film.[45] In her review, Raedita Tandon of Filmfare called the film a "gritty, engaging thriller", and stated that Kapoor was a revelation in it.[46] The film eventually emerged as a major commercial success with domestic revenues of over ₹1 billion (US$14 million).[47] Her second release that year was Vishal Bhardwaj's critically acclaimed drama Haider, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, set during the Kashmir conflict of 1995.[48] She played the Ophelia-based character, a journalist named Arshia, opposite Shahid Kapoor and Tabu. Writing for Deccan Chronicle, critic Kusumita Das praised Kapoor's effort in capturing the varied nuances of her character and noted that her portrayal was "surprisingly composed".[49] Also that year, Kapoor performed an item number in the Karan Johar-produced thriller Ungli.[50]

In 2015, Kapoor starred in a sequel to the dance film ABCD: Any Body Can Dance, entitled ABCD 2, she portrayed the role of a hip-hop dancer who competed in an international hip-hop competition alongside her childhood friend Suresh Mukund (essayed by Varun Dhawan).[51][52] In preparation for her role, she learned different genres of dance form from choreographers Prabhudeva and Remo D'Souza.[53] Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the film earned ₹1.57 billion (US$22 million) worldwide to become her most widely seen film to that point.[54]

Kapoor at an event for Baaghi in 2016

Kapoor began 2016 by featuring as star Tiger Shroff's love interest in the action drama Baaghi, about a pair of rebellious lovers set against the backdrop of a martial arts school. The role required her to practice Kalaripayattu (a martial art originating in the south of India).[55] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express considered her character in it to be dated, but thought that she played the romantic and action sequences "well enough".[56] Commercially, the film performed well and collected a total of ₹1.26 billion (US$18 million).[57][58]

Kapoor's final release in 2016 was the rock musical drama Rock On 2, a sequel to 2008's Rock On!!. She was cast alongside Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal and Prachi Desai. She played the role of Jiah Sharma, an introverted singer and keyboard player, who suffers a neglectful relationship with her father.[59] To prepare, she spent time reading books in isolation[60] and undertook vocal training under the singer Samantha Edwards.[61] Namrata Joshi of The Hindu disliked the film and considered Kapoor's performance "self-consciously meek and submissive".[62] Rock On 2 did not recoup its ₹450 million (US$6.3 million) investment.[63] In 2017, Kapoor starred in Shaad Ali's romantic drama Ok Jaanu, reuniting with Aditya Roy Kapur.[64] A remake of Mani Ratnam's Tamil romantic drama O Kadhal Kanmani, the film was produced by Karan Johar under the banner of Dharma Productions. Kapoor next appeared in the romance Half Girlfriend, in which she was paired opposite Arjun Kapoor. It was based on Chetan Bhagat's novel of the same name, and reunited her with director Mohit Suri. In a review of the latter film, Raja Sen of NDTV considered it to be a "preposterously dimwitted romance" and criticised Kapoor as "shrill and insubstantial".[65] Later in 2017, Kapoor appeared in Apoorva Lakhia's Haseena Parkar, a biopic of terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's sister, who ran a crime ring of her own. Kapoor played the titular role, alongside her brother Siddhanth Kapoor, who essayed Ibrahim's character.[66] The film met with negative reviews;[67][68] Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost considered Kapoor's performance to be as "bland as the screenplay", adding that "she tries to appear mature and menacing, but the effort shows too much".[69] None of her 2017 releases performed well at the box office.[70]

Kapoor at the 2018 Star Screen Awards

Kapoor next starred opposite Rajkummar Rao in the comedy horror film Stree (2018).[71] Based on the Nale Ba legend, the film featured her as a mysterious, unnamed woman who falls in love with Rao's character.[72] The critic Saibal Chatterjee took note of the film's feminist subtext and found Kapoor to be "suitably icy as the enigmatic woman".[73] Rajeev Masand opined that she "blends in nicely as the alluring out-of-towner with an air of mystery around her".[74] With gross earnings of over ₹1.7 billion (US$24 million), Stree emerged as her highest-grossing release to that point.[75][76] In the same year, Kapoor reteamed with Shahid Kapoor in Batti Gul Meter Chalu, a social problem film about electricity issues in rural India. She agreed to the project due to the social message she found in the script.[77] Filming was marred with dispute when the studio KriArj Entertainment failed to remunerate the crew. Following a brief hiatus, production resumed after Bhushan Kumar took over the project.[78] Writing for India Today, Charu Thakur noted that Kapoor "needs to go a long way as far as her acting skills are concerned".[79]

Kapoor was committed to star in a biopic of badminton player Saina Nehwal, directed by Amole Gupte, but after filming for a few days she opted out of the project citing a scheduling conflict.[80][81] She began 2019 by playing the leading lady opposite Prabhas in Sujeeth's trilingual action film Saaho.[82] Budgeted at ₹3.5 billion (US$49 million), it is one of the most expensive Indian films produced.[83] In a scathing review for Mid Day, Mayank Shekhar dismissed her part as "rather pale and pointless".[84] The Tamil and Telugu versions of the film did not perform well but its Hindi version was a commercial success.[85][86] Her next film release was Nitesh Tiwari's Chhichhore, a comedy-drama about college life, co-starring Sushant Singh Rajput.[87] Udita Jhunjhunwala of Mint labelled it a "lively homage to hostel life" and added that "in spite of a sketchy role, Kapoor delivers a moving and likeable performance".[88] With a worldwide gross of over ₹2 billion (US$28 million), the film emerged as one of her most successful.[89]

Kapoor began the new decade by reuniting with Dhawan in the dance film Street Dancer 3D (2020), which Namrata Joshi termed a "compilation of indistinguishable performances".[90] It did not perform well commercially.[91] She then reteamed with Shroff in the spiritual sequel Baaghi 3.[92] It underperformed commercially as theatres were shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[93] She will next star opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Luv Ranjan's as-yet untitled project.[94]