Her role as the muse of a married director in Abahoman, directed by Rituparno Ghosh, won her the National Film Award for Best Actress.

[6] Despite having no formal training in acting, her work was appreciated and she became a household name;[6] soon appearing in three telefilms directed by Anjan Dutt, John Johnny Janardan, Ek Din Darjeeling and Amar Baba.

[7] Subsequently, she made her feature film debut with Sharan Dutta's thriller Raat Barota Paanch (2005).

[8] In 2009, appearing opposite veteran Soumitra Chatterjee in Suman Ghosh's Dwando she managed to stand her ground and then in Anup Sengupta's Mama Bhagne (2009) where again her performance was reviewed as "stellar".

In the 2012 Bengali film Meghe Dhaka Tara directed by Kamaleswar Mukherjee, Chatterjee played the role of Durga, wife of Nilkantha Bagchi.