her début film was the Telugu film Photo, which released in 2006, before bagging a role and gaining attention in the film Kattradhu thamizh (2007), for which she received the Filmfare Awards for best female Debutante. In 2010 and 2011, she won the Fieldfare awards for best actress Tamil, for her performances in respectively, subsequently becoming recognized as one of the "finest young actors" in Tamil cinema and noted for mostly playing "performance-oriented roles. Her Telugu reentry occurred through
Journey, which established her in Tollywood. In 2002, Anjali was signed on to appear in director. Sathamindri Muthamidu under the screen name of Sundari, but the film later failed to materialize. The director also began two other films with Anjali, Valiba Desam and En Kanavos Thanasi, though those also failed to materialize. During one of her modeling assignments, she was spotted by director Siva Nageswara Rao, who offered her a starring role in his Telugu thriller film Photo (2006). Anjali portrayed a ghost haunting her murderers in Photo, which co-starred two more newcomers, Anand and Bhanu She played the female lead in another Telugu venture, the romance film Premalekha Raasa (2007), directed by lyricist Kulasekhar, opposite a debutant again both films garnered negative response, and performed poorly at the box office, failing to propel her career in Telugu cinema.
