Panday made her acting debut in 2019 with the teen film Student of the Year 2, co-starring Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria, which was produced by Dharma Productions. Writing for Scroll.in, Nandini Ramnath felt that Panday showed potential in an unremarkable film. The film underperformed at the box office. Panday next starred in Pati Patni Aur Woh (2019), a remake of the 1978 film of the same name, alongside Kartik Aaryan and Bhumi Pednekar. She played a secretary who indulges in an affair with a married man, which was portrayed by Ranjeeta Kaur in the original. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV found her to be "perfectly cast as the wide-eyed girl" but Jyoti Kanyal of India Today dismissed her as "bland and boring with no spice". With a worldwide gross of ₹1.15 billion (US$16 million), it emerged as a commercial success. Panday won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for her performance in Student of the Year 2.
In 2019, Panday launched an initiative named So Positive to create awareness about social media bullying, prevent negativity and build a positive community. At the 2019 Economic Times Awards, the project was named Initiative of the Year.
