Virdi wrote Kapadia fought her way to success by committing to serious and challenging work and described her parts in "Aitbaar" (1985), "Kaash" (1987) and "Drishti" (1990) as characters with which she "drew from the well of her own experience". With "Zakhmi Aurat" (1988), Kapadia became one of the mainstream actresses associated with a new wave of women-centred revenge films. As an action heroine, she chose to perform her own stunts, which the critic M. Rahman thought made her performance more convincing. Although she enjoyed working in similar projects, such as "Mera Shikar" (1988) and "Kali Ganga" (1990), she bemoaned about being paid less than male action stars. The author Dinesh Raheja believed Kapadia's involvement in art films in the 1990s happened at a time when she was no longer willing to play the "pretty prop in hero-oriented films", arguing her new choices "honed Dimple's talent for lending fine striations to complex emotions". Mahesh Bhatt commended her for not turning into "a victim of her own success" by refusing to appear in films of strictly commercial value. According to Govind Nihalani, the director of "Drishti" (1990), Kapadia has a genuine interest in serious work that would challenge her talent and realise her potential. Similar sentiments were shared by Shashi Kapoor, who said Kapdia had always been eager to act in quality films. Kapadia said her involvement in independent films was a conscious decision to experiment in different cinema and prove her abilities.