After appearing in short films and supporting roles, Varma played the lead role in the Telugu film Pelli Choopulu (2016), for which she received the Nandi Award for Best Actress and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Telugu.

She signed her next film as a lead Prema Ishq Kaadhal in which she played the role of a costume designer opposite Sree Vishnu.

[8][9] Sebsequently, she appeared in Naa Rakumarudu (2014), which was followed by Yevade Subramanyam,[10] for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Female) award at IIFA Utsavam.

Impressed with her performance in Pelli Choopulu, director Gautham Vasudev Menon chose her as the lead in his upcoming Tamil film with Vikram, Dhruva Natchathiram.

In 2022, her first release was the anthology Modern Love Hyderabad in the segment "Fuzzy, Purple and full of Thorns" which streamed on Amazon Prime Video.