While pursuing a degree in engineering, he made his acting debut with Luv Ranjan's buddy film Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011).

He also played against type in the thrillers Dhamaka (2021) and Freddy (2022), and the romantic drama Satyaprem Ki Katha (2023), and gained praise for portraying Murlikant Petkar in the biopic Chandu Champion (2024).

[7][8] Aaryan began a modelling career while in university and after three years of unsuccessfully auditioning for films, he did an acting course from the Kreating Charakters institute.

[13] While still in his third year of college, Aaryan made his acting debut with Luv Ranjan's buddy film Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011), co-starring Divyendu Sharma, Raayo S Bakhirta, and Nushrat Bharucha, which revolves around the romantic tribulations faced by three young men.

[18] Namrata Joshi of Outlook criticised the film for portraying each of the female characters as a "hard-hearted bitch" but was appreciative of Aaryan's monologue and the chemistry between the three men.

[9] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV disliked the film but wrote that Aaryan "exudes strong screen presence and shows flashes of qualities needed to be a mainstream Bollywood lover boy".

[26][10] In 2015, Aaryan starred in Ranjan's comedy sequel Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, which retained some of the original's cast, including him and Bharucha, and added the actors Omkar Kapoor and Sunny Singh.

[27][28] Mike McCahill of The Guardian criticised the film's poor handling of female roles, but considered the banter between Aaryan and Bharucha's characters to be its highlight.

[33] The following year, Aaryan featured as a young Muslim boy who falls in love with an older woman in Tanuja Chandra's short film Silvat, which was made as part of the Zeal For Unity initiative to bridge cultural barriers between India and Pakistan.

[36] In a scathing review, Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times criticised the film's reliance on flatulence humour, and wrote that Aaryan "looks good, dances well, does his gags well, but eventually ends up playing the second fiddle to Rawal.

[38] Aaryan's breakthrough came in 2018 when he collaborated with Ranjan and Bharucha for the fourth time in Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, which also reunited him with Singh.

[42] Rajeev Masand too disliked the "objectionable stereotyping" of women but found it to be "unquestionably funny" and credited Aaryan for making his character a "relatable, likeable figure despite his misdeeds".

[47] Aaryan believed that the success of Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety allowed him to choose from a wider variety of roles.

[49] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express criticised the writing for failing to subvert the issues raised in the film, and thought that both Aaryan and Sanon "come off standard-issue Bollywood".

[51] Anupama Chopra considered the film to be less misogynistic than the original; she wrote that Aaryan "enthusiastically commits" to his part but added that he had been overshadowed by his leading ladies.

[56] He played dual roles of young men in 1990 and 2020, opposite Arushi Sharma and Sara Ali Khan, respectively, after working on the mannerisms and body language of the characters to differentiate them from each other.

[57][58] In a negative review of the film, Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in wrote that Aaryan "nails the diffidence and callowness of his characters" but bemoaned that he lacked "brooding quality and simmering intensity" in certain scenes.

[66] In 2022, Aaryan starred as Rooh Baba, a fraudulent psychic, in Anees Bazmee's horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 with Tabu and Kiara Advani.

[68] In a mixed review, Shalini Langer of The Indian Express noted that Aaryan's "cockiness [and] enthusiasm... lends some much-needed energy to the film".

[82] Although Nandini Ramnath wrote that "Aaryan puts visible effort" into a complex role and Sukanya Verma believed that he "sparkles in certain moments of vulnerability", they both opined that he had been overshadowed by Advani.

[85] Aaryan starred as Murlikant Petkar, an army man who became a Paralympic gold medalist, in Kabir Khan's biographical drama Chandu Champion (2024).