She appeared in the famous I'm a Complan Boy! I'm a Complan Girl! campaign alongside Shahid Kapoor and also in a music video, Falguni Pathak's Meri Chunar Udd Udd Jaye, when she was fifteen. She then appeared in the video, Shake It Daddy, which brought her to the attention of the movie industry, and a few film offers followed.
She signed a contract for Socha Na Tha, then for Taarzan: The Wonder Car. However, delays in making Socha Na Tha meant that Taarzan released first and was therefore her "debut" film
She won the Filmfare Best Debut Award in 2004 for her performance in Taarzan.
She has appeared in a number of films that have done poorly at the box office. However, she has been highly praised for her work in the 2006 Dor, a smaller budget film in which she plays the role of a young widowed Rajasthani woman living in a traditional joint family. She went on to win a Zee Cine Critics Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film Dor. Also in 2006, Ayesha Takia was amongst the top 10 on the listing of India's 50 most desirable women alive, a poll conducted by Zoom, an Indian TV channel.
