After making her debut with the war drama The Hope in 2004, she worked on several films before her breakthrough on Go (2007) and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), which won three of India’s annual Filmfare Awards. Khanwalkar later made history as just the second woman ever nominated for Best Music Director at the Filmfare Awards for her work on the two-part epic Gangs of Wasseypur (2012). Hers was the first nomination for a female composer in nearly three decades following Usha Khanna in 1983. Gangs of Wasseypur won the 2012 APSA Jury Grand Prize for director Anurag Kashyap.