Early work and recognition (2015–2019) Pednekar's acting debut came as the overweight wife of
Ayushmann Khurrana's character in the
Yash Raj Films-produced and
Sharat Katariya-directed romantic comedy
Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015). In preparation, she gained almost 12 kg body weight.
Rajeev Masand reviewed, "Pednekar steals the film with an assured turn, effortlessly making you care for Sandhya, without ever reducing her to a slobbering, self-pitying caricature." After filming, she began losing weight and shared methods and tips of the process through her social media. A commercial success,
Dum Laga Ke Haisha won the
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and earned Pednekar the
Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. That year she was featured in
Y-Films's four part mini web series ''Man's World''. Based on the subject of
gender inequality, it digitally premiered on
YouTube. Two years later, Pednekar was cast in the satire
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017) as a young woman in rural India who insists on the eradication of
open defecation, opposite
Akshay Kumar. Despite disliking the story, Saibal Chatterjee of
NDTV praised her for "flesh[ing] out a refreshingly relatable college topper who becomes the principal catalyst for a mini-revolution". With a worldwide gross of over , it emerged as one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of the year and Pednekar's biggest grosser. Later that year, her performance opposite Khurrana in
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, a satire on
erectile dysfunction, earned Pednekar her first nomination for the
Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Reviewing the film for
The Indian Express,
Shubhra Gupta wrote that Pednekar "once again reminds us just how convincing she can be as a real honest-to-goodness young woman in search of love", but bemoaned that she was being typecast in such roles.
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan grossed worldwide.
Zoya Akhtar's segment in the
Netflix anthology film
Lust Stories marked Pednekar's sole screen appearance of 2018; she played a maid who has an affair with her employer. Writing for
NDTV, Raja Sen considered Akhtar's segment to be the best in the anthology, and found Pednekar "hauntingly good" in it.
Abhishek Chaubey's crime drama
Sonchiriya was Pednekar's first release of 2019. She played a young housewife on the run in rural
Chambal, alongside
Sushant Singh Rajput and
Manoj Bajpayee. In preparation, she underwent two and a half months of physical training to portray her character's mannerism and gait; she also learned to fire a gun. Rahul Desai of
Film Companion praised the subtlety in the film and its performances, and credited Pednekar for "lend[ing] an inevitable sense of womanhood to the silenced". She next starred as the septuagenarian sharpshooter
Chandro Tomar in
Tushar Hiranandani's biographical film
Saand Ki Aankh, opposite
Taapsee Pannu who played her sister-in-law
Prakashi Tomar. In preparation, Pannu and Pednekar spent time with the two women and trained in shooting a gun. Udita Jhunjunwala of
Mint wrote, "Pannu and Pednekar are wonderful and spunky and embrace their parts even though their body language and posture is variable". Both actresses were jointly awarded the
Screen Award and
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. Continuing her portrayals of headstrong small-town women, Pednekar starred in
Bala and
Pati Patni Aur Woh (both 2019).
Pati Patni Aur Woh, a remake of a
1978 film of the same name and co-starring
Kartik Aaryan and
Ananya Panday, featured her as a housewife with a philandering husband.
Anupama Chopra wrote that "it's Bhumi Pednekar's spirited Vedika who lifts the material up a notch. Bhumi has an intelligence that rescues some of the silliest scenes in this film, especially in the climax." Both
Bala and
Pati Patni Aur Woh were commercially successful, each grossing over worldwide.
Commercial struggles and streaming projects (2020–present) Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, directed by
Alankrita Shrivastava and co-starring
Konkona Sen Sharma, was screened at the
24th Busan International Film Festival in 2019 and released on
Netflix later in 2020. Nandini Ramnath of
Scroll.in wrote that despite doing a "fine job", Pednekar had been overshadowed by her co-star Sen Sharma. Nonetheless, both actresses received nominations for the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. She next had brief roles in the comedy-drama
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan and the horror film
Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship. In the same year, Pednekar starred in a remake of the horror film
Bhaagamathie, named
Durgamati, which was released on
Amazon Prime Video. In a scathing review, Rohan Naahar of
Hindustan Times disliked the film and Pednekar's performance. After a year-long absence from the screen, Pednekar starred alongside
Rajkummar Rao as gay individuals in a
lavender marriage in the comedy-drama
Badhaai Do (2022). She was pleased with the opportunity of playing the vulnerable character of a closeted lesbian, as it marked a departure from the strong-willed women she typically played. Rachana Dubey of
The Times of India praised the film's handling of
LGBT themes and found Pednekar's performance to be "sensitive, nuanced, and on point". She won another Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress (shared with
Tabu for
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2), in addition to her second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She reteamed with Akshay Kumar in
Aanand L. Rai's family film
Raksha Bandhan. The film was panned for its regressive storytelling and it emerged as a box office bomb. She then appeared in
Shashank Khaitan's comic thriller
Govinda Naam Mera, co-starring
Vicky Kaushal and
Kiara Advani, which released on
Disney+ Hotstar.
Mid-Day Hiren Kotwani found her "over-the-top" portrayal to be the best performance in a disappointing film. In 2023, Pednekar reteamed with Rajkummar Rao in
Anubhav Sinha's
Bheed, a drama in
black-and-white about the
COVID-19 lockdown in India. Reviewers for
Scroll.in and
Rediff.com complimented her for ably supporting Rao's performance. She then starred alongside
Nawazuddin Siddiqui in
Sudhir Mishra's
Afwaah, a thriller about
fake news. Both
Bheed and
Afwaah had controversial political themes; they received a limited theatrical release and had poor box office returns. Her next release, the sex comedy
Thank You for Coming, premiered at the
2023 Toronto International Film Festival. It marked her first project in which she was cast in an urban setting, but she found it challenging to play a character that came close to her own personality, saying that it required "a lot of [my] own demons [...] to be examined". Comparing her "vibrant comedic performance" to that of stars
Carole Lombard and
Goldie Hawn,
IndieWire's Marya E. Gates found Pednekar's "irrepressible charm" and "overwhelming beauty" to be the highlight in a mediocre film. Though another box office bomb, she received another Best Actress nomination at Filmfare. She then starred opposite
Arjun Kapoor in the thriller
The Lady Killer. The film was released without principal photography being completed and was only given a small release without any marketing. It became one of the biggest box office bombs of Indian cinema, earning less than lakh against a production budget of crore. Pednekar portrayed a journalist in the crime drama
Bhakshak, which released on Netflix in 2024. Filmed in 39 days, it is based on the
Muzaffarpur shelter case. She described the role as "one of my most mature", causing her to "question my empathy and how I had become so numb towards somebody else’s pain". Shubhra Gupta described her as "earnest" and "believable" in a movie that lacked "basic story-telling". In 2025, Pednekar played a woman with
retrograde amnesia in the romantic comedy
Mere Husband Ki Biwi, co-starring Arjun Kapoor and
Rakul Preet Singh. Sana Farzeen of
India Today felt that her "fiery Punjabi character, though fun initially, becomes overbearing after a point". It emerged as Pednekar's seventh consecutive box-office bomb. She next starred as a headstrong business owner who falls in love with a royal (played by
Ishaan Khatter) in the romantic drama series
The Royals, for Netflix. The series was panned by critics who criticised the chemistry between Pednekar and Khatter.
NDTV's Hardika Gupta felt that Pednekar's performance was particularly disappointing as she has shown previously that "she is capable of far more textured performances". She will next lead the thriller series
Daldal for Amazon Prime Video. == Other work and media image ==