Malhotra made her film debut with a leading role in Kabir Khan's 2015 drama film Bajrangi Bhaijaan, opposite Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. She played the role of Shahida also known as 'Munni', a Pakistani Muslim girl who gets lost in India and travels back to her homeland with the help of an Indian, Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi (played by Khan). Malhotra was selected out of 5,000 girls who appeared for the film's audition. Malhotra's performance as a mute girl was critically praised and earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut nomination, making her the youngest person to be nominated in the category and won the Screen Award for Best Child Artist among several other awards and nominations.

She has acted in serials such as Qubool Hai (2014) and Laut Aao Trisha (2014), and appeared in TV commercials and print ads for brands including Fair & Lovely (cosmetics), Pears (cosmetic), HDFC Bank, Horlicks, Ace Group and also appeared in the Pakistanis commercial of Telenor along with Shaan Shahid and Hilal Cup Cake TV Commercial alongside veteran popular actress Ismat Zaidi.^[4] Harshaali later worked in Hindi film Nastik (2018 film), along with Arjun Rampal^[5]