She gained attention for her supporting roles in three of her 2015 Bollywood productions: the revenge drama Badlapur, the comedy Hunterrr, and the biographical film Manjhi - The Mountain Man.

[1] In 2018, Apte starred in three Netflix productions – the anthology film Lust Stories, the thriller series Sacred Games,[2] and the horror mini-series Ghoul.

Apte recounted these times in an interview with Scoop Whoop in 2018, as a learning yet demoralizing experience, wherein she managed with a salary of ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 from theatre roles and having to put up with odd house owners and roommates in Goregaon, where she lived as a paying guest.

[16] Actor Rahul Bose, who had seen Apte perform in Anahita Oberoi's play Bombay Black, suggested her name to director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury who cast her in his National award-winning[18] Bengali film Antaheen along with Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore and Rahul Bose.

[14] Riddhima Seal, writing for The Times of India, called Apte a "revelation", further adding "With eyes that speak a thousand words, her passion for work and the loneliness of her heart as she waits to chat every night with that special stranger just strikes the right chord".

[19] In 2009, Apte had her first Indian release, KBC productions' Gho Mala Asla Hava by Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar, in which she appeared as Savitri, a village girl.

[14] In 2010, she was seen in Maneej Premnath's thriller The Waiting Room[21] and later, appeared in a significant role in Ram Gopal Varma's Rakta Charitra and its sequel.

[9] In 2011, Apte appeared in the anthology film I Am and in Shor in the City under Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures.

[32] Legend and Lai Bhaari were commercial successes, the latter breaking the opening weekend box office record[33] and becoming the highest grossing Marathi film of all time.

[35] Despite appearing only briefly in the latter part of the film,[4] she was widely recognized and appreciated for her performance,[36] with several critics stating that she stood out in the ensemble cast.

While Shubha Shetty-Saha from mid-day.com described her as "excellent in an absolutely realistic role",[44] Filmfare's Rachit Gupta wrote, "While you're at it, hand one (award) to Radhika Apte...She really comes into her own, in a character that's unconventional and full of surprises".

[53] In 2018, Apte co-starred with Akshay Kumar in R. Balki's comedy-drama Pad Man, based on a short story in Twinkle Khanna's book, The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad.

It is inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham from Tamil Nadu, who campaigned for menstrual hygiene in rural India.

She is associated with Mohit Takalkar's theatre troupe Aasakta Kalamanch in her hometown and has acted in plays like Tu, Purnaviram, Matra Ratra and Samuel Beckett's That Time with Rehan Engineer.

[63][64] She played one of the lead roles in Anurag Kashyap's film on eve teasing, That Day After Everyday, which released on YouTube in 2012.

[12] Director Sarang Sathaye, a friend of Radhika, in October 2012, said that the two had been living together for a while and that a registered marriage took place a month before the official ceremony was said to be held in March 2013.

[69] She supported the MeToo movement in India, stating that she was hopeful that it could bring about a change if enough major industry figures were to participate.

[71] Natasha Dsouza of Femina termed her "happy-go-lucky", "outspoken" and noted, "Apte is a rarity and a new-gen star who's known for two things: essaying complex roles and speaking her mind.