In the 1990s, Kapadia started appearing in parallel cinema, a movement of Indian neo-realist art films, later citing an "inner yearning to exhibit my best potential". Those films include "Drishti" (1990), "Lekin..." (1991), "Rudaali" (1993) and "Antareen" (1993). "Drishti", a marital drama that was directed by Govind Nihalani, starred Kapadia and Shekhar Kapur as a married couple from Mumbai's intellectual milieu, and followed their trials and tribulations, extramarital affairs, divorce, and eventual reconciliation. Kapadia recounted her full emotional involvement in the part of the protagonist, career-woman Sandhya; her performance was critically acclaimed. The author Subramani recognised Kapadia as "an actress with hidden resources" and appreciated her "intelligent portrayal", through which Sandhya emerged as "vulnerable and intense and full of feminine wiles". A review in "The Indian Express" presumed her own separation might have contributed to her understanding of the part and sensitive performance. The film was acknowledged as the Best Hindi Film of that year at the 38th National Film Awards, and "Frontline" magazine suggested that Kapadia should have earned the Best Actress award at the same function. She was named Best Actress (Hindi) of the year by the Bengal Film Journalists' Association.