Early work and recognition (2016–2019) Malhotra was selected for
Nitesh Tiwari's biographical sports film
Dangal along with
Fatima Sana Shaikh, who was also relatively new.
Anupama Chopra said in her review that Malhotra provides "strong support" to the story. Malhotra later choreographed the song "Sexy Baliye" for the
Secret Superstar (2017), which featured Khan. Two years later, Malhotra starred in
Vishal Bhardwaj's drama
Pataakha (2018) alongside newcomer
Radhika Madan. Based on the short story
Do Behnen by Charan Singh Pathik, it tells the story of two warring sisters in
Rajasthan. The story was based on the wives of Pathik's brothers. They also had to put on 10 kg of weight. Critic
Raja Sen found Malhotra to be a "fearless actress" and thought that she "plays this character with unhinged enthusiasm". In the same year, she took on a supporting role in
Amit Sharma's critically and commercially successful comedy
Badhaai Ho, starring
Ayushmann Khurrana. In 2019, Malhotra starred in
Ritesh Batra's
Photograph. The film follows a street photographer Rafi, played by
Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who tries to convince a student Miloni (Malhotra) to pose as his fiancée so that his grandmother stops pressuring him to get married. It was screened at the 2019
Sundance Film Festival and at the
69th Berlin International Film Festival.
The Hollywood Reporter featured her in their listing of "breakout talent" from the latter festival. Rahul Desai of
Film Companion gave
Photograph a positive review and wrote that Malhotra "becomes the dreamy-eyed participant that enables the film to embrace its quiet glances and gentle flights of fantasy." Malhotra was nominated for the
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for the film.
Streaming films and critical acclaim (2020–present) Malhotra's two films of 2020—the biographical film
Shakuntala Devi and the black comedy
Ludo—were initially planned for theatrical release. However, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in India, they were released directly on
Amazon Prime Video and
Netflix respectively.
Shakuntala Devi, directed by
Anu Menon, is about the
mental calculator of the same name and starred
Vidya Balan in the titular role, with Malhotra portraying Devi's daughter Anupama. Mike McCahill of
The Guardian found Malhotra to be "quietly affecting" in her part and commended her for holding her own opposite her co-star.
Anurag Basu's anthology film,
Ludo, featured her alongside an ensemble cast.
India Todays Nairita Mukherjee took note of the "outstanding camaraderie" between Malhotra and her co-star
Aditya Roy Kapur. For her performance in
Ludo, she received another nomination for the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. Malhotra's first two films of 2021 were released on
Netflix. In the black comedy
Pagglait, she starred as a young widow who discovers her late-husband's infidelity. Critic
Anna M. M. Vetticad found her to be aptly cast in a subtle part. She received a Best Actress nomination at the
Filmfare OTT Awards. Malhotra then starred alongside
Abhimanyu Dassani as newlyweds in the romantic comedy
Meenakshi Sundareshwar. The film received criticism for its stereotypical representation of
Tamil people. In 2022, she starred in the
ZEE5 film
Love Hostel, a thriller about
honour killing, opposite
Vikrant Massey.
Sukanya Verma of
Rediff.com wrote that both Massey and Malhotra "effortlessly convey the flavour of the world they inhabit". Malhotra had a small role opposite
Rajkummar Rao in the thriller
HIT: The First Case, a remake of the
Telugu film of the
same name. Reviewers for
The Times of India and
News 18 bemoaned her lack of screen time. 2023 featured Malhotra in three films, all of which went on to win
National Film Awards. She first had a starring role as a small-town cop in pursuit of a missing
jackfruit in the Netflix satirical film
Kathal.
Hindustan Times Monika Rawal Kukreja was appreciative of her comic timing. Her performance earned her a Filmfare OTT Award for Best Actor in a Web Original Film (Female). She next had a supporting role as a doctor in
Jawan, an action film starring
Shah Rukh Khan. It ranks as one of Indian cinema's biggest grossers. In her final release of the year, she played the wife of
Sam Maneckshaw in the biopic
Sam Bahadur, starring
Vicky Kaushal in the title role. It was a modest commercial success. At the
71st National Film Awards the film won Best Feature Film Promoting National, Social and Environmental Values. The drama
Mrs., a Hindi remake of the
Malayalam film
The Great Indian Kitchen, starring Malhotra as a newlywed dealing with regressive patriarchal traditions, premiered at the 2024
Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, and released on
ZEE5 in 2025. Malhotra earned unanimous acclaim for her performance with Sukanya Verma commending her for matching up to
Nimisha Sajayan's performance in the original. In 2025, Malhotra starred in
Shashank Khaitan's
Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, a romantic comedy starring
Varun Dhawan and
Janhvi Kapoor.
WION's Shomini Sen felt that both Malhotra and her co-star
Rohit Saraf were not given adequate scope to perform in their roles, but
Hindustan Times' Rishabh Suri commended her for salvaging a character that had been limited by poor writing. It failed commercially. ==In the media==