 In 2015, Vidya reteamed with Hashmi in the Mohit Suri-directed romantic drama Hamari Adhuri Kahani. Penned by Mahesh Bhatt, the film tells the story of Vasudha, a single mother trapped in an abusive marriage, who has an extra-marital affair. Shubha Shetty-Saha of Mid Day reviewed, "Vidya Balan, a fine actress with thousand emotions fleeting across her lovely face, has shown us what she's capable of in her earlier movies. But here, saddled with a boring, outdated, weepy character, there was nothing much even she could do". Vidya next took on the part of a police officer in Te3n (2016), a thriller inspired by the 2013 South Korean film Montage, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. She was attracted to the idea of playing a "no-nonsense police inspector who commands much respect" and was particularly drawn to her character's "silent aggression". NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee criticised the decision to bill Vidya's pivotal role as a special appearance and noted how much her presence benefited the film. Rajeev Masand was critical of the film's predictable denouement, but wrote that Vidya "is reliably solid each time she ’ s on screen, raising her brow, curling her lip to effectively communicate more than words can". She then portrayed the actress Geeta Bali in multiple songs for Ekk Albela, a Marathi language biopic of the actor-director Bhagwan Dada.
