According to wikipedia,By 2004, Kapoor was keen on broadening her range as an actress and thus decided to portray more challenging roles.[28][29] Under the direction of Sudhir Mishra, Kapoor essayed the role of a golden-hearted prostitute in Chameli, a film relating the story of a young prostitute who meets with a widowed investment banker (played by Rahul Bose). When Kapoor was initially offered the film she refused it, explaining that she would be uncomfortable in the role.[28] She relented when Mishra approached her for the second time, and in preparation for the role, visited several of Mumbai's red-light districts at night to study the mannerisms of sex workers and the way they dressed.[28] Chameli was well received by critics and the film marked a significant turning point in her career,[29] earning Kapoor a special jury recognition at the 49th Filmfare Awards.[30] Indiatimes praised her "intuitive brilliance" and stated that she had exceeded all expectations.[31] Rediff.com, however, found her portrayal unconvincing and excessively stereotypical, describing her as "sounding more like a teenager playacting than a brash, hardened streetwalker" and comparing her mannerisms to a caricature.[32]
Kapoor next co-starred in Mani Ratnam's bilingual project Yuva alongside Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukerji and Esha Deol. The film, consisting of three chapters, tells the story of six individuals linked by a car accident. Kapoor is featured in the third chapter as Oberoi's love interest (Mira, a witty young woman). In a Times of India review film critic Subhash K Jha described her role as "fey and insubstantial", but further stated that "she turns these character traits to her own advantage to create a girl who is at once enigmatic and all-there".[33] She then appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Fardeen Khan in Govind Nihalani's critically acclaimed film Dev, which revolved around the 2002 Hindu-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat.[34] Kapoor's role was that of a Muslim victim named Aaliya, modelled after Zaheera Sheikh (a key witness in Vadodara's Best Bakery case).[34] It earned her a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress and nominations for Best Actress at various award ceremonies.[17] Taran Adarsh noted that she was "first-rate" and in particular noted her scene with Bachchan's character.[35]
Shortly afterwards, Kapoor was cast for the first time as a villain in the thriller Fida. Set against the backdrop of the Mumbai underworld, the film follows the story of an online heist in which her character, Neha Mehra, becomes involved. During the filming of Fida Kapoor began a romantic relationship with co-actor Shahid Kapoor, whom she later described as having "a major positive influence in my life".[36] Although the film was unsuccessful at the box office[37] Kapoor received positive reviews for her performance, and some critics noted a distinct progression from her earlier roles.[38] Her subsequent releases that year included Abbas-Mustan's thriller Aitraaz and Priyadarshan's comedy Hulchul, both of which were successful at the Indian box office.[37] Following the success of her last two releases, she was cast as the protagonist of the 2005 drama Bewafaa. The feature received mostly negative reviews, and Kapoor's portrayal of Anjali Sahai (an unfaithful woman) was not well received. Nikhat Kazmi of Indiatimes believed that to become a serious actress Kapoor was embodying a maturer, more-jaded character beyond her years in Bewafaa.[39] She then starred in Priyadarshan's romantic drama Kyon Ki, which was a box-office failure;[40] however, Kapoor's performance was generally well received by critics (with the BBC describing her as "a pure natural").[41]
In 2006, Kapoor appeared in three films. She first starred in the thriller 36 China Town, followed by the comedy Chup Chup Ke; both were moderately successful.[42] She next portrayed the character of Desdemona in Omkara—the Hindi adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. The film (directed by Vishal Bhardwaj) is a tragedy of sexual jealousy set against the backdrop of the political system in Uttar Pradesh.[43] Describing Bhardwaj as a "world-class director [with] a unique style", Kapoor was cast in the project after the director had seen her performance in Yuva, and was subsequently required to attend script-reading sessions along with the entire cast.[44][45] The feature premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival.[43][46] Omkara was received positively by critics, and Kapoor's portrayal earned her a fourth Filmfare Award and first Screen Award.[17] In a 2010 retrospective of the "Top 80 Iconic Performances" of Hindi cinema, Filmfare wrote that she was "brilliant" and praised her ability to "effortless[ly]" convey the various emotions her character went through.[47] Kapoor considered her role in Omkara as a "new benchmark" in her career, and compared her portrayal of Dolly with her own evolving maturity as a woman.[48]
Following Omkara, Kapoor took a short break from acting, as she felt that "nothing [was] challenging enough for me to say yes".[48] In an interview with The Times of India Kapoor commented, "In my initial years in the industry, I pushed myself to do a lot of work because I was greedy. I did some films—which I now regret—purely for the money. Today, I want to do selective films.
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