From 1964-67, she had a studio at the Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute, which used to be located at Breach Candy, Mumbai,[4] where artists, musicians, dancers and theater persons worked individually and collectively.

[13] The themes she explored during this period dealt with the turbulent time that India was experiencing politically and socially, as well as the deepening literacy of moving image of its population.

She was disappointed with the lack of acknowledgement that women artists had to face in India and resolved to bring them together for a group show, to promote the sense of solidarity.

[11] In 2013, she became the first Asian woman to receive the Arts & Culture Fukuoka Prize for her "consistent focus on such daring contemporary and universal themes as religious conflict, war, oppression of women and environmental destruction.

Malani's first experimental film made at the Vision Exchange Workshop (VIEW) — the brainchild of late artist Akbar Padamsee — drew inspiration from utopian modern Indian architecture.

Made using photographic equipment available at the Workshop, it features use of a cardboard maquette, different light sources, primary colour filters, and a Mamiyaflex camera.

For this, Malani drew on the 'ideological possibilities of modern architecture', looking to the work of renowned architects Charles Correa and Buckminster Fuller, and blending in learnings from Johannes Itten's colour theories along with Moholy-Nagy’s Vision in Motion.

— Nalini Malani [21] 'Dream Houses' was shown at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) (2014), the Goethe Institute, Mumbai, (2019) and the MoMa, New York,(2022), after being 'lost' for 50 years.

[22] The video installation was inspired by an essay by the sociologist Veena Das titled "Language and Body: Transactions in the Construction of Pain".

"[23] The Partition of India and the 2002 Gujarat riots are the central events referenced in this installation,[24] as there was a sharp increase in violence against women in these periods.

[25] This installation, which was first produced for the 13th edition of Documenta, consists of five larger rotating Mylar cylinders (metaphorically referring to Buddhist prayer wheels[26]) reverse-painted with images of soldiers, animals, gods and guns.