Bollywood Actresses Who Played Police Officers On Screen: Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukerji & More

Written By: Entertainment Desk

Sep 18, 2026 16:37 IST ⓘ

Bollywood actresses who brought grit, authority and memorable shades of justice to khaki-clad roles.

For decades, the Hindi film police station was largely a male preserve. The hero delivered the warnings, kicked open the doors and sent criminals flying, while women were usually positioned somewhere outside the investigation. Every so often, however, an actress claimed the uniform – and frequently walked away with the most interesting character in the film. That tradition receives a timely new addition with ‘Daayra’, which arrived in theatres today (September 18, 2026). Directed by Meghna Gulzar, the crime drama stars Kareena Kapoor Khan as DCP Ajooni Kohli, a special-investigation officer asked to examine a controversial encounter carried out by DCP Raman Kumar, played by Prithviraj Sukumaran.

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The supporting cast includes Jitendra Joshi, Kshiti Jog, Trupti Khamkar, Kanwaljit Singh and Achint Kaur. Ajooni is not designed as a permanently uniformed, slow-motion supercop. She is an investigator navigating uncomfortable questions about justice, due process and police accountability. Interestingly, this is not Kareena’s first brush with policing – she previously played British officer Naina Kohli in ‘Angrezi Medium’.

As Kareena adds another complicated officer to her filmography, here are the actresses who proved that khaki was never meant to be a men-only dress code.

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1. Rani Mukerji - Mardaani franchise

If Hindi cinema’s female cops had to elect a mascot, Shivani Shivaji Roy would probably win without needing a recount. Rani Mukerji introduced the Crime Branch officer in Pradeep Sarkar’s ‘Mardaani’, released on August 22, 2014. Co-starring Tahir Raj Bhasin and Jisshu Sengupta, the film sent Shivani after a child-trafficking network and avoided transforming her into a gender-swapped action caricature. She was physically capable, emotionally invested and frighteningly persistent – the sort of cop who did not require a dramatic uniform reveal to establish authority.

Rani returned in Gopi Puthran’s ‘Mardaani 2’ on December 13, 2019, opposite Vishal Jethwa, and again in Abhiraj Minawala’s ‘Mardaani 3’ on January 30, 2026, alongside Janki Bodiwala and Mallika Prasad. The box-office curve also travelled upwards: the first film collected Rs 35.82 crore nett in India and Rs 59.55 crore worldwide; the second reached approximately Rs 47.57 crore nett and Rs 67.12 crore worldwide; and the third finished with Rs 51.82 crore nett and Rs 76.27 crore worldwide.

2. Deepika Padukone - Singham Again

Rohit Shetty’s cop universe had already demolished countless cars before Deepika Padukone arrived in ‘Singham Again’ as DCP Shakti Shetty, better known as “Lady Singham”. Released on November 1, 2024, the film brought together Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Arjun Kapoor and Jackie Shroff. Amid that traffic jam of stars, Deepika received an explosive franchise entrance complete with swagger, action and the promise of a larger future.

Shakti’s screen time was limited, but the character was clearly introduced as more than a one-film cameo. She expanded a universe that had previously kept its most powerful police posts overwhelmingly male. ‘Singham Again’ collected Rs 247.86 crore nett in India and Rs 372.41 crore worldwide.

3. Priyanka Chopra - Jai Gangaajal

Priyanka Chopra entered Prakash Jha territory with ‘Jai Gangaajal’, released on March 4, 2016. She played SP Abha Mathur, an upright officer posted to Bankipur, where policing, political power and organised crime have become uncomfortably close friends. Prakash Jha, Manav Kaul, Rahul Bhat, Murli Sharma and Ninad Kamat formed the principal supporting cast.

Abha did not fight only gun-carrying criminals; she also confronted a compromised system whose officers had forgotten which side of the law they occupied. Priyanka kept the character controlled even when the film surrounded her with high-volume confrontations. The movie earned Rs 32.77 crore nett in India and Rs 49 crore worldwide.

4. Tabu - Drishyam and Kuttey

Tabu’s Inspector General Meera Deshmukh in ‘Drishyam’ was not merely the officer investigating Vijay Salgaonkar – she was also the missing boy’s mother. That dual position gave Nishikant Kamat’s thriller, released on July 31, 2015, its most volatile conflict. Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Ishita Dutta and Rajat Kapoor co-starred as Meera methodically dismantled Vijay’s story, only to discover that knowing someone is lying and proving it are very different matters. The film collected Rs 67.14 crore nett in India and Rs 110.40 crore worldwide.

Tabu returned in Abhishek Pathak’s ‘Drishyam 2’ on November 18, 2022, alongside Ajay, Shriya and Akshaye Khanna. The sequel earned Rs 240.54 crore nett and approximately Rs 345.05 crore worldwide. She then flipped the respectable-officer image in Aasmaan Bhardwaj’s ‘Kuttey’, released on January 13, 2023, playing corrupt cop Pammi Sandhu opposite Arjun Kapoor, Kumud Mishra, Radhika Madan and Konkona Sen Sharma. That film managed only Rs 4.65 crore nett – but Tabu appeared to have tremendous fun making khaki look thoroughly untrustworthy.

5. Sonakshi Sinha - Dahaad

Sonakshi Sinha’s OTT debut in ‘Dahaad’ gave her one of her most grounded performances. The eight-episode Prime Video series premiered on May 12, 2023 and cast her as Sub-Inspector Anjali Bhaati, who begins connecting the apparently unrelated deaths of several women. Vijay Varma, Gulshan Devaiah and Sohum Shah completed the central ensemble.

Created by Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar and directed by Kagti and Ruchika Oberoi, ‘Dahaad’ made Anjali’s personal battles as important as the investigation. She has to push through caste prejudice, se**sm and casual condescension while pursuing a killer skilled at exploiting women’s vulnerabilities. The show became the first Indian streaming series to compete for the Berlinale Series Award.

6. Shefali Shah - Delhi Crime

Shefali Shah’s DCP Vartika Chaturvedi is among Indian streaming’s defining police characters. The first season of Richie Mehta’s ‘Delhi Crime’ premiered on Netflix on March 22, 2019 and followed the investigation inspired by the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. Rasika Dugal, Rajesh Tailang, Adil Hussain and Gopal Datt joined Shefali in the police ensemble.

Vartika was inspired in part by IPS officer Chhaya Sharma, but the series remained a dramatised work rather than a literal biographical recreation. Shefali played the officer without crowd-pleasing flourishes: fatigue, anger and leadership were allowed to coexist on her face. The series became the first Indian programme to win the International Emmy for Best Drama Series. She subsequently returned for the second season in August 2022 and the third in November 2025.

7. Raveena Tandon - Aranyak

Raveena Tandon traded metropolitan glamour for foggy hills and a stubborn local mystery in ‘Aranyak’. Directed by Vinay Waikul, the Netflix series premiered on December 10, 2021 and featured Parambrata Chatterjee, Ashutosh Rana, Meghna Malik and Zakir Hussain.

Raveena played Kasturi Dogra, a local police officer preparing to take a sabbatical when a teenage tourist disappears in the fictional town of Sironah. The case drags her back into duty and pairs her with Parambrata’s city-bred officer Angad Malik. Kasturi understands the town’s people, secrets and superstitions better than any official file possibly could.

8. Shilpa Shetty - Indian Police Force

Deepika may have received the “Lady Singham” introduction on the big screen, but Shilpa Shetty technically became Rohit Shetty’s first female cop when ‘Indian Police Force’ premiered on Prime Video on January 19, 2024. Created and directed by Rohit Shetty and Sushwanth Prakash, the series also starred Sidharth Malhotra, Vivek Oberoi, Sharad Kelkar, Isha Talwar and Nikitin Dheer.

Shilpa played Tara Shetty, an IPS officer and former Gujarat ATS chief who joins the hunt for terrorists responsible for serial blasts in Delhi. She did not stand on the sidelines issuing motivational instructions. Tara entered raids, interrogations and gunfights with the same action-film confidence as her male colleagues.

9. Sanya Malhotra - Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery

Not every screen cop needs a citywide terrorist attack to prove her worth. Sometimes two stolen jackfruits are enough. Yashowardhan Mishra’s ‘Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery’ premiered on Netflix on May 19, 2023 and starred Sanya Malhotra, Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, Anantvijay Joshi and Neha Saraf.

Sanya played Inspector Mahima Basor, who is ordered to locate the missing jackfruits from a politician’s garden while a far more serious missing-person case receives little attention. What begins as an absurd assignment becomes a sharp satire about institutional priorities, caste and gender. Mahima remains clever, patient and quietly rebellious even when everyone around her treats the investigation as a circus. The direct-to-streaming movie later won Best Hindi Film at the 71st National Film Awards.

10. Sushmita Sen - Samay: When Time Strikes

Long before gritty female-led procedurals became an OTT category, Sushmita Sen was hunting a serial killer in ‘Samay: When Time Strikes’. Directed by Robby Grewal and released on October 10, 2003, the thriller featured Sushant Singh, Rajesh Khera, Tushar Dalvi and Jackie Shroff.

Sushmita played ACP Malvika Chauhan, a celebrated investigator and widowed mother who must decipher the connection between a string of precisely executed murders. The film trusted her to carry the case rather than attaching a male superstar as insurance. However, it was commercially unsuccessful, earning approximately Rs 1.85 crore nett in India and Rs 2.80 crore worldwide.

11. Bipasha Basu - Dhoom 2

Bipasha Basu performed double duty in Sanjay Gadhvi’s ‘Dhoom 2’, released on November 24, 2006. Alongside Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra, she played ACP Shonali Bose as well as Shonali’s twin sister, Monali.

Shonali joins Jai Dixit and Ali in their pursuit of master thief Aryan, giving the franchise a female officer who could participate in the action instead of merely receiving briefings about it. Admittedly, Monali’s glamorous beachside presence received more promotional attention than Shonali’s police work, but the film still placed Bipasha on both sides of its style-versus-duty equation. ‘Dhoom 2’ became a blockbuster, collecting approximately Rs 81.01 crore nett in India and Rs 149.98 crore worldwide.

12. Esha Gupta - Chakravyuh

Esha Gupta stepped away from glossy romantic roles to play IPS officer Rhea Menon in Prakash Jha’s ‘Chakravyuh’, released on October 24, 2012. Arjun Rampal played her husband and fellow officer Adil Khan, while Abhay Deol, Manoj Bajpayee, Anjali Patil and Om Puri occupied different sides of the film’s conflict over Maoist insurgency.

Rhea participates in the security operation rather than existing simply as the worried spouse waiting at home. Esha revealed that people had advised her against accepting the de-glam role, partly because the character was older than her actual age. The film ultimately underperformed commercially.

13. Neha Dhupia - A Thursday

Neha Dhupia was visibly pregnant when she played a pregnant police officer in ‘A Thursday’ – and the film did not treat either condition as a reason to remove her from the action. Directed by Behzad Khambata, the hostage thriller premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on February 17, 2022 and starred Yami Gautam, Atul Kulkarni, Dimple Kapadia, Karanvir Sharma and Neha.

As ACP Catherine Alvarez, Neha coordinates the police response after a playschool teacher takes children hostage and issues a series of demands. Catherine must manage the operation, media pressure and clashes within the negotiating team while refusing to be treated as fragile. Neha won the Filmfare OTT Award for Best Supporting Actress for the performance.

14. Madhuri Dixit - Khal Nayak

Madhuri Dixit’s Ganga in ‘Khal Nayak’ did more than give Hindi cinema ‘Choli Ke Peeche’. She was Inspector Gangotri Devi, a police officer who went undercover as a dancer to recapture escaped criminal Ballu and clear the reputation of her colleague and fiancé, Ram.

Directed by Subhash Ghai and released on August 6, 1993, the action drama starred Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri, Jackie Shroff, Raakhee and Anupam Kher. Ganga’s undercover mission places her directly between the lawman and the outlaw, making her essential to the chase rather than decorative material inside it. The film became 1993’s second highest-grossing Hindi release and reportedly earned approximately Rs 24 crore globally.

15. Hema Malini - Andhaa Kaanoon

In T Rama Rao’s ‘Andhaa Kaanoon’, released on April 8, 1983, she played Inspector Durga Devi Singh. The film starred Rajinikanth, Hema, Reena Roy, Prem Chopra and Danny Denzongpa, with Amitabh Bachchan making a major special appearance.

Durga and her brother Vijay, played by Rajinikanth, want justice for the same family tragedy but choose opposite paths. Vijay believes the legal system has failed and pursues revenge. Durga joins the police and insists that the guilty must be punished within the law. The film was a commercial success and reportedly the fifth highest-grossing Hindi film of 1983.

These characters have used the same uniform in radically different ways. Some were heroic, some compromised, some exhausted and some dangerously close to crossing the line themselves. Kareena Kapoor’s Ajooni Kohli now joins that evolving roll call – a reminder that the most compelling screen cop is not necessarily the one who throws the hardest punch, but the one forced to decide what justice actually means.