Gulzar's romantic mystery "Lekin...", which is based on Rabindranath Tagore's short story "Hungry Stones" (1895), stars Kapadia as a restless spirit seeking liberation, Reva, who haunts an ancient palace and appears intermittently in the presence of an architect (Vinod Khanna) throughout his work visit in Rajasthan. Kapadia has often cited this role as a personal favourite and the pinnacle of her career, and wished she had more screen time in the film. To make her character more truthful, Gulzar forbade Kapadia to blink during filming, trying to capture an "endless, fixed gaze" that would give her "a feeling of being surreal". "Lekin..." was popular with critics and Kapadia's performance in it earned her a third Filmfare nomination. Subhash K. Jha described Reva as "the essence of evanescence" and took note of the "intense tragedy" with which Kapadia played the part.