Over the next two decades she appeared in over seventy films, became recognized for her depictions of mothers, and received the Citra Award for Best Supporting Actress.

During the Indonesian National Revolution, while her husband was held by the returning Dutch colonial forces, Hardi eked out a living on her own.

[1][4] The following year she took a starring role in another PFN film, Si Pintjang, portraying an old woman; as she was only twenty-four, she was artificially aged with make-up.

In her suicide note, Hardi wrote that she had been driven to kill herself by her debts;[12] she owed five million rupiah to her arisan group.

[13] In a column, the journalist-cum-actor Rachman Arge [id] wrote that her death was all the more shocking owing to Hardi's frequent portrayal of strong, wise mothers, to whom millions of viewers could turn when they felt themselves lost in the bustle of modern life.

[b][13] Hardi won a Citra Award for Best Supporting Actress at the Indonesian Film Festival for her performance as Djafar's mother in Petir Sepandjang Malam in 1967.

In 1981 she was nominated for a Citra Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Grandmother in Busana dalam Mimpi, but lost out to Mieke Wijaya of Kembang Semusim.