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. Although the film was unsuccessful at the box office, Kapoor received positive reviews for her performance, and some critics noted a distinct progression from her earlier roles. 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. 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. That same year, she starred in the romantic dramas Kyon Ki and Dosti: Friends Forever, both of which underperformed at the box office; however, Kapoor's performance in Kyon Ki was generally well received by critics (with the BBC describing her as "a pure natural").