Breakthrough (2017–2019) Pandey made her screen debut with the Telugu film
Arjun Reddy in 2017, where she played a medical student opposite
Vijay Deverakonda. A major commercial success, the film earned her the
SIIMA Award for Best Female Debut – Telugu nomination. Hemanth Kumar of
Firstpost noted, "Shalini as Preethi, is good and it's the vulnerability that she encapsulates that makes the love story so intense". In her first film of 2018, Pandey made her
Hindi film debut with a cameo appearance in
Meri Nimmo. The same year, she had a supporting role in the Telugu film
Mahanati, a major box office success. '' in 2019 Pandey had five film releases in 2019. She first played
Sowcar Janaki in the Telugu film
NTR: Kathanayakudu. She then played the lead in the Telugu film
118, opposite
Nandamuri Kalyan Ram. The film was a commercial success. Neeshita Nyayapati of
The Times of India found her performance to be adequate in the role but was more appreciate of her chemistry with Ram. Later the year, Pandey made her Tamil film debut with
100% Kadhal, playing a college student opposite
G. V. Prakash Kumar. It emerged as a box office failure. In her next Tamil film, she played the lead opposite
Jiiva in
Gorilla. In her final film of the year, she played a college student opposite
Raj Tarun in the Telugu film
Iddari Lokam Okate, a box office average.
Career expansion (2020–present) In 2020, Pandey starred in
Bamfaad, a romantic action film in which she played a Hindu girl who becomes romantically involved with a Muslim boy (played by
Aditya Rawal).
Anna MM Vetticad of
Firspost found her to be "efficient" but added that she lacks "spark". That year, she also starred in the Telugu film
Nishabdham. Sowmya Rajendran of
The News Minute wrote that she was "a surprise as the possessive Sonali. She's meant to be annoying yet likable. A tough ask, but Shalini pulls it off". Pandey portrayed a
Gujarati housewife opposite
Ranveer Singh in the 2022 Hindi film
Jayeshbhai Jordaar, a comedy about
female infanticide. It emerged as a
box-office bomb. In a negative review of the film,
Rediff.com's
Sukanya Verma wrote that Pandey "piggy backs entirely on Ranveer Singh's feminism to leave any impact." Following a two-year hiatus, she had a brief role opposite
Junaid Khan in the 2024 Hindi film
Maharaj, that was released directly on to
Netflix. Pratikshya Mishra of
The Quint opined that she "pulls her weight" in a short but important role. In 2025, Pandey starred in the Netflix series
Dabba Cartel, which tells the story of a group of women operating a
drug cartel under the guise of a food delivery company.
Hindustan Timess Abhimanyu Mathur wrote that despite her earnest efforts, Pandey was constrained by a role that "allows her to do very little apart from looking helpless". She will next appear alongside
Dhanush in
Idli Kadai. ==Media image==