She also appeared in Zee TV show Hip Hip Hooray. Chawla started in the film career in the Telugu film industry, starring in the film Yuvakudu 2000 with actor Sumanth. This second release, 2001 Kushi in which she played against Pawan Kalyan was a box office success.
She was nominated for her first Filmfare Best Actress, and won the Best Debut trophy at Zee Cine Awards ceremony.
While Chawla's performance in the former won here Accolades And The CineMAA Jury Award for Best Actress, the latter was to become a super hit movie.
After that she participated in Hindi film Gandhi, My Father as gulab Gandhi and adopted the title roles in the Telugu film Sathyabhama, where she played a girl who suffers from short term memory loss.
