Haasan established herself in South Indian cinema with the Telugu films Gabbar Singh (2012), Balupu (2013), Yevadu (2014), Race Gurram (both 2014), Srimanthudu (2015), Premam (2016), Krack (2021) and Waltair Veerayya (2023).

[16] Khan, her childhood friend, had recommended her name to the director and Haasan signed on after listening to the entire script and accepted to play a dual role in the action film.

[20][21] Haasan then went on to appear alongside Blaaze in the promotional videos for Unnaipol Oruvan and Eenadu, the bilingual films starring her father, which she had composed the music for.

She further made an appearance in a promotional music video for the horror film Hisss, starring Mallika Sherawat, where she had also sung a song composed by Dave Kushner.

[22] Haasan made her Telugu debut in January 2011, acting opposite Siddharth in the fantasy adventure film Anaganaga O Dheerudu, directed by Prakash Kovelamudi, son of director K. Raghavendra Rao.

The film portrayed her as Nikki Narang, the step-daughter of an ex Miss India model, with Hashmi's character falling for both mother and daughter.

[26] Her performance gained poor responses from critics, with a reviewer citing that her character has been "reduced to post-interval surfacing, last-ditch glamour", while another labelled hers as "so fake that she offers only disappointment";[27] however, the film went on to become a commercial success at the box office.

[30] Her next Telugu release was Oh My Friend, a romantic comedy film alongside Siddharth again, which also co-starred Hansika Motwani and Navdeep.

The film told the story of childhood friends, and that of their platonic friendship that went on in their adulthood as well, and for the role Shruti Haasan went on to learn the dance of Kuchipudi.

"[32] Aishwarya Rajinikanth's Tamil directorial debut 3, a romantic drama film co-starring Dhanush, marked a turning point in Haasan's career.

Aishwarya revealed that she had written the script with Shruti in mind, but date problems meant that the film began its shoot with Amala Paul instead.

However, in a turn of events, Shruti was re-signed to play the character of Janani, and the film gained much hype prior to release due to the collaboration of herself and Aishwarya, being the daughters of the two leading contemporary Tamil actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, respectively, as did the success of the song "Why This Kolaveri Di?".

"[36][37] With four releases in 2013, Haasan first appeared in the Telugu film Balupu opposite, Ravi Teja, which eventually became a "super-hit", at the box office.

[44] In her final release that year, Haasan played a social worker Ammulu, opposite Jr. NTR, in Telugu film Ramayya Vasthavayya.

[45][46] Haasan's first release of 2014, the Telugu film Yevadu, opposite Ram Charan, emerged as a major commercial success.

[48] In her second Telugu release of the year, Race Gurram, Haasan star opposite Allu Arjun for the first time in her career and played Spandana, an emotionless girl.

[51] She also had a Tamil release; Poojai, opposite Vishal, for which she also did costume designing and performed her first item number, in the Telugu film Aagadu, starring Mahesh Babu and Tamannaah.

[52] In 2015, Haasan performed her second item number in the Hindi film Tevar, featuring Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha.

Haasan first played a lawyer Shruti, in the Hindi film Gabbar Is Back opposite Akshay Kumar, which was a commercial success.

[54][55] She next played a rural development student Charuseela in the Telugu film Srimanthudu opposite Mahesh Babu, which opened to positive critical reception and was a commercial success.

[63] Malini Mannath of The New Indian Express noted, "Shruti is adequate in the limited space given to her, but her character is sidelined when the sibling bonding makes its play.

[65] Renuka Vyavahare stated, "Shruti Haasan looks pretty in her special appearance, adding life to the lovely song Rehnuma.

[71] In her final film of the year, she appeared in Behen Hogi Teri opposite Rajkummar Rao, playing a spunky girl, Binny.

[93] A critic of Times of India noted, "Shruti Haasan de-glams for Meetu Mathur and after a few initial moments of discomfort in front of the camera, her act picks up pace.

Paul Nicodemus of Times of India opined, "Shruti Haasan, in her role as Aadhya, brings a sense of balance but is mostly limited to the first half and a few scenes in the second.

[103] She also signed an India-U.K. film co-production Chennai Story directed by Bafta-winning Welsh director Philip John and also has rising star Viveik Kalra in leading role.

[120] Haasan made her Cannes Film Festival appearance in 2017, where she also graced the red carpet for British author Neil Gaiman.

[126] Haasan also conducted an online session on social topics such as mental health, women in films and media, and sustainability in fashion.

[136] She went onto achieve praises for her portrayals in mainstream Telugu and Tamil films, in particular for Oh My Friend, Race Gurram, Srimanthudu, Premam and Si3.

[140] Manjusha Radhakrishnan of Gulf News noted, "Haasan is one of the rare talents who don't take the star part of the celebrity too seriously.