In 1993, Kapadia won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Rudaali", a drama that was directed by Kalpana Lajmi and adapted from Mahasweta Devi's short story of the same name. She played the central character Shanichari, a lonely, hardened Rajasthani village woman who, during a lifetime of misfortune, has never cried and is challenged with a new job as a professional mourner. The citation for the award described her performance as a "compelling interpretation of the tribulations of a lonely woman ravaged by a cruel society". The Indologist Philip Lutgendorf argued that Kapadia's "dignity and conviction, as well as her effective body language and gestures, lift her character far beyond bathos". Among other accolades, she won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance and was acknowledged with Best Actress honours at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival and the International Film Festival in Damascus. Critics and moviegoers accepted "Rudaali" with enthusiasm, and it was India's submission to the 66th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2010, "Filmfare" magazine included Kapadia's work in the film in their list of "80 Iconic Performances".