2001–2004: Early work and breakthrough In 2001, she made her adult debut in the Bengali film
Ek Je Aachhe Kanya, in which she played a negative character. This was followed by a role in
Rituparno Ghosh's acclaimed film
Titli (2002), opposite
Mithun Chakraborty and her mother Aparna Sen. These films earned her critical acclaim and helped her gain notice in
Bengali cinema. for
Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002) from president
Dr. Abdul Kalam in 2003. Sen Sharma achieved her breakthrough in
Indian cinema with the English-language drama
Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, directed by Aparna Sen opposite
Rahul Bose. The film told the story of two strangers during a fateful bus journey amidst the carnages of a communal strife in India. It performed moderately well at the box-office, but earned widespread critical acclaim from domestic and international critics upon release. Sen Sharma's performance as a
Tamil housewife and her mastery of the accent received universal acclaim and earned her the
National Film Award for Best Actress. Praising her performance in the film,
Filmfare wrote, "What's special about her performance as Meenakshi Iyer is not the effort she put into it as much as the apparent lack of it. [...] Be it her squabbling with the urbane photographer Jehangir Chaudhary or her gently reprimanding him about how her name is pronounced ('It's Mee-naa-kshi not Minakshi') or even when she is screaming at her infant, you believe it's Meenakshi you’ve met. And therein lies the key to her iconic performance." Her performance was later included in the 2010 issue of the "Top 80 Iconic Performances" by
Filmfare. In 2004, she worked in an independent
English language film titled
Chai Pani Etc..., made by independent maker Manu Rewal. The film drew huge response at the
35th International Film Festival of India but had a delayed theatrical release a year later and became a box office disaster.
2005–2010: Success and acclaim In 2005, Sen Sharma starred in
Madhur Bhandarkar's drama
Page 3, which saw her portray the role of a smart journalist who steps into the world of
Page 3 culture media and journalism in the city of Mumbai. Upon release, the film received high critical acclaim, and emerged as a moderate commercial success at the box-office.
Page 3 helped Sen Sharma gain notice in
Hindi cinema and earned her the
Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut. The same year, she also starred alongside
Waheeda Rehman,
Shabana Azmi and Bose in her mother's directorial
15 Park Avenue, which saw her play a mentally-ill woman, which also earned her critical praise, despite the film's commercial failure. Sen Sharma was next offered the lead role in
Mira Nair's
Hollywood drama
The Namesake (2007), but owing to clashing dates with other films, she could not commit to the project. Following a critically-acclaimed performance as a mentally-ill woman in the drama
15 Park Avenue (2006), she portrayed a middle-aged village woman who unknowingly becomes a pawn in her husband's scheme in
Vishal Bhardwaj's crime drama
Omkara (2006). Starring an
ensemble cast of
Ajay Devgn,
Kareena Kapoor,
Saif Ali Khan,
Vivek Oberoi and
Bipasha Basu alongside Sen Sharma, the film opened to widespread critical acclaim, with high praise for her performance. However, due to its dark here and strong language which kept away family audiences, it emerged as a moderate commercial success at the box-office. Her performance in the film earned her the
National Film Award and the
Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her next release was the suspense thriller
Deadline: Sirf 24 Ghante (2006), which was a critical and commercial disaster. The same year, she made her directorial debut with an 18-minute
Bengali short film titled
Naamkoron (Naming Ceremony) for the Kala Ghoda Film Festival. Following this, she starred alongside
Prosenjit Chatterjee in the
Bengali drama
Dosar, directed by
Rituporno Ghosh. The film premiered at several international film festivals and emerged as a
sleeper hit at the box-office. Her performance in the film won her the Best Actress award at the
New York Indian Film Festival. She began 2007 by portraying a street prostitute in the
noir film Traffic Signal which marked her second collaboration with Bhandarkar. Her performance, like the film, earned positive reviews; however, it emerged as a commercial failure at the box-office. She next starred alongside an ensemble cast including
Shilpa Shetty,
Kay Kay Menon,
Irrfan Khan and
Kangana Ranaut in
Anurag Basu's urban drama
Life in a... Metro. The film depicted the lives of nine different individuals in
Mumbai, and dealt with heres such as
extramarital affairs, sanctity of marriage,
commitment phobia and love. It opened to widespread critical acclaim, with Sen Sharma's performance as a young and insecure woman receiving high praise. Despite expectations, the film emerged as a
surprise commercial success at the box-office, grossing over ₹250 million worldwide.
Life in a... Metro earned her a second consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. In the latter half of 2007, Sen Sharma starred in two films under the
Yash Raj Films banner – the women-centric drama
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and the musical drama
Aaja Nachle. She noted her excitement toward these two projects as these were the first films in which she had to
lip sync for songs.
Pradeep Sarkar's
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag saw her star alongside an ensemble cast of
Jaya Bachchan,
Rani Mukerji,
Anupam Kher,
Kunal Kapoor and
Abhishek Bachchan. The film tackled heres of duty, sacrifice and morality. She portrayed the role of a young girl who moves to
Mumbai only to find her older sister moonlighting as an escort unbeknownst to her family, and helps her sister redeem herself. It opened to mixed reviews from critics upon release, however Sen Sharma's performance received praise, thus earning a third nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Anil Mehta's
Aaja Nachle, which marked the comeback of
Madhuri Dixit, saw Sen Sharma in the supporting role of a tomboy. The film received mixed-to-negative reviews, but praise was directed to her performance, with
Rajeev Masand from
CNN-IBN noting her performance in the film as being "...nothing short of fantastic. Her greatest strength is that she isn't afraid of making a fool of herself and she doesn't worry about being laughed at. As a result, her performance in
Aaja Nachle is fearless and uninhibited."
Laaga Chunari Mein Daag emerged as a below-average grosser, while
Aaja Nachle emerged as a commercial failure at the box-office. In 2008, she starred in the critically and commercially unsuccessful romantic comedy
Dil Kabaddi. She next appeared in a short film (
How Can It Be?) directed by
Mira Nair for a film project called
8, which was screened at several film festivals in 2008 before having a theatrical release. In 2009, her first film appearance was in the low-budget English-language film
The President Is Coming, directed by
Kunaal Roy Kapur. The film explores a day in the life of six contestants who will stop at nothing as the US President is coming to town, with Sen Sharma playing one of the six contestants who will represent New India in front of the President. It received positive reviews from critics upon release, with particular praise for Sen Sharma's performance.
Nikhat Kazmi from
The Times of India wrote, "Performance-wise, it's the uptight and complex-ridden Sen Sharma who walks away with laurels and laughs even as the film takes a healthy snigger at the desi self." Sen Sharma next starred in
Zoya Akhtar's directorial debut, the drama
Luck by Chance, leading an ensemble cast alongside
Farhan Akhtar. The film saw her portray a starlet trying to make it big in the Hindi film industry. It opened to widespread critical acclaim upon release, with high praise directed towards Sen Sharma's performance; however, the film emerged as an underwhelming success at the box-office. She followed the film up with
Ayan Mukerji's directorial debut, the
coming-of-age comedy-drama Wake Up Sid opposite
Ranbir Kapoor. The film told the story of a careless rich college brat who is taught the value of owning up to responsibility by an aspiring writer from
Kolkata, the latter portrayed by Sen Sharma. It received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with high praise directed towards her performance.
Taran Adarsh of
Bollywood Hungama wrote, "Sen Sharma is natural to the core and the best part is, she's so effortless. Here's another winning performance from this incredible performer!"
The New York Times wrote, "Ms. Sen Sharma has made a specialty of characters like Aisha: independent urban women, whose dreams involve careers as well as love. Her Aisha is a nuanced creation — ambitious, sympathetic, believable — and Mr. Mukerji, making his directing debut, is right to let her run away with the film." The film emerged as a commercial success at the box-office, grossing ₹471 million worldwide. In June 2009, Sen Sharma starred onstage first time at Atul Kumar's
The Blue Mug alongside
Rajat Kapoor,
Vinay Pathak,
Ranvir Shorey and
Sheeba Chadha. In 2010, the play was toured around the nation and abroad. In 2010, Sen Sharma starred as a working woman in Ashwani Dheer's comedy
Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge alongside
Ajay Devgan and
Paresh Rawal. and as a lawyer in Neeraj Pathak's
Right Yaa Wrong. The former emerged as a critical and commercial success, while the latter emerged as a disaster critically and commercially. The same year, she finished shooting for
Rituparno Ghosh's unreleased comedy
Sunglass and
Vinay Shukla's comedy-drama
Mirch, a critical and commercial failure.
2011–2016: Continued work 's birthday party in 2012. Sen Sharma began 2011 with a special appearance in
Vishal Bhardwaj's
black comedy 7 Khoon Maaf alongside
Priyanka Chopra and
Vivaan Shah. She then played the leading role in Aparna Sen's drama
Iti Mrinalini, reportedly a semi-autobiographical film directed by the acclaimed Indian director Aparna Sen, also her mother. She next appeared in Amitabh Verma's
Jackpot opposite
Ranvir Shorey, in
Suman Mukherjee's adaptation of
Shesher Kobita and
Goutam Ghose's
Shunyo Awnko. In 2013, she appeared alongside
Emraan Hashmi,
Kalki Koechlin and
Huma Qureshi in
Balaji Telefilms' supernatural thriller
Ek Thi Daayan, directed by newcomer Kannan Iyer and produced by Vishal Bhardwaj and
Ekta Kapoor. The film itself is inspired by the short story written by her father Mukul Sharma. It opened to positive reviews from critics upon release, with Sen Sharma's performance receiving high praise in particular, earning her a fourth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. The film emerged as a moderate commercial success at the box-office. She also starred in Aparna Sen's horror comedy
Goynar Baksho which earned her critical acclaim and won her the
Filmfare Award Bangla for Best Actress. In 2015, Sen Sharma starred in the Bengali film
Kadambari as
Kadambari Devi, Tagore's sister-in-law and also portrayed Lakshmi Das, the wife of Gour Hari Das, an Odisha freedom fighter who spent 32 years attempting to convince the government of his patriotism in the biographical film
Gour Hari Dastaan. The same year, she played a character based on Nupur Talwar in
Meghna Gulzar's thriller drama
Talvar, based on the
2008 Noida double murder case. The film premiered at the
2015 Toronto International Film Festival to widespread critical acclaim with high praise directed towards her performance; moreover, the film also emerged as a
sleeper hit at the box-office. In the same year she played Nayantara in a short film, ''Nayantara's Necklace''. In 2016, Sharma portrayed a cop in
AR Murugadoss' action thriller
Akira, alongside
Sonakshi Sinha, which received mixed reviews from critics, and emerged as a commercial failure at the box-office.
2017–present: Debut as a director and streaming projects In 2017, she ventured into film direction with the English-language drama
A Death in the Gunj, which starred an ensemble cast including
Vikrant Massey and
Kalki Koechlin. The film premiered at the
2016 Toronto International Film Festival and received widespread critical acclaim upon theatrical release. It won her the
Filmfare Award for Best Debut Director and a nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics). Additionally, she also won the Best Director award at the
New York Indian Film Festival and the
MAMI Film Festival. The same year, she also starred in the ensemble black comedy-drama
Lipstick Under My Burkha directed by
Alankrita Shrivastava. Revolving around the secret lives of four women who are in search of her freedom, the film received critical acclaim upon release, and won her the Best Actress award at the New York Indian Film Festival and the
Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. However, despite critical acclaim, both
A Death in the Gunj and
Lipstick Under My Burkha emerged as below-average commercial successes at the box-office. In 2020, she starred in the comedy-drama
Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare alongside
Bhumi Pednekar as a middle-class woman struggling with societal expectations. It released on
Netflix to mixed reviews, but earned her (and Pednekar) a nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics). Her next project, titled
Scholarship, alongside Kalki Koechlin is in pre-production. In 2021, her first film appearance was as a woman who loses her father in
Seema Pahwa's directorial debut, the ensemble family comedy-drama
Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi. The film opened to critical acclaim, and earned her a fifth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. However, the film emerged as a commercial failure at the box-office. She followed it up with her portrayal of a lower-caste androgynous woman who develops feelings for her colleague in
Neeraj Ghaywan's
Geeli Pucchi, a segment of the Netflix
anthology film Ajeeb Daastaans. Her performance earned her high critical acclaim and won her the
Filmfare OTT Award for Best Actress in a Web Original Film, and the Best Actress in a Leading Role award at the
Asian Academy Creative Awards Grand Finals. She next appeared as the Social Services Director of a
general hospital in the
Amazon Prime medical drama web series
Mumbai Diaries 26/11. Directed by
Nikkhil Advani, the series was set in the emergency room of a government hospital, focusing on the challenges faced by medical staff and first responders during the
2008 Mumbai attacks. The series, and Sen Sharma's performance, received critical acclaim upon release. ceremony. In 2023, her first film appearance was as a hardened cop in the action thriller
Kuttey, which received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics upon release, and emerged as a commercial disaster at the box-office. she next collaborated as a director with
R. Balki,
Amit Ravindernath Sharma and
Sujoy Ghosh for the Netflix anthology film
Lust Stories 2. Her segment titled "The Mirror", which starred
Tillotama Shome and
Amruta Subhash, tackled heres of female desire and voyeurism. It received positive reviews upon release, with high praise for Sen Sharma's segment, winning her the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Web Original Film (Critics). she later reprised her role of Dr. Chitra Das in the second season of the
Mumbai Diaries that focussed on
2005 Mumbai floods. She was given more screen time this season, and her performance stood out as she depicted a vulnerable woman grappling with her inner demons, especially in moments with her ex-husband, played by
Parambrata Chattopadhyay. Season 2 review of
The Hindu described her performance as "by turns steely and tremulous in an affecting role," highlighting how she navigated the challenging emotional terrain of a healthcare worker during a crisis. In January 2024, Sen Sharma appeared in the black comedy
crime thriller series
Killer Soup, on Netflix. She played the lead role alongside
Manoj Bajpayee and received good reviews for her performance. In 2025, Sen Sharma starred in
Anurag Basu's
Metro... In Dino alongside an ensemble cast of Anupam Kher,
Neena Gupta,
Pankaj Tripathi,
Aditya Roy Kapur,
Sara Ali Khan,
Ali Fazal and
Fatima Sana Shaikh. The film is a
spiritual successor of
Life in a... Metro (2007), with her being the only actor from the original to also star in the second part, albeit in a different role. She will star alongside
Ronit Roy in Preetam Mukherjee's mystery film
Bioscope. == Media image ==