2003–2017: Early work, breakthrough and fluctuations
Kapoor's first job in the film industry was as an assistant director on Nikhil Advani's Kal Ho Naa Ho in 2003. He also assisted Advani on his next directorial, Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love (2007), and worked as an associate producer on two of his father's productions—No Entry (2005) and Wanted (2009). Kapoor was then signed on for a three-film contract with Yash Raj Films, a leading production company in India.
In 2011, it was announced that Kapoor would debut with a film named Virus Diwan, produced under Yash Raj Films, which was shelved after some time. Later, he signed on to debut with the company's romantic drama Ishaqzaade (2012) opposite Parineeti Chopra, which tells the love story between a son and daughter of a Hindu and Muslim political family, respectively. While filming a running sequence for the feature in Barabanki, Kapoor suffered a spasm in his hamstring muscle, though he finished the scene after resting for five minutes. The film grossed over ₹46 crore (US$4.8 million) at the domestic box office and was termed a super hit by Box Office India. His performance earned him the Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut and nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut and the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year (male). Taran Adarsh noted, "Arjun makes a fantastic debut. He comes across as fiery and rustic and at the same time self-assured and assertive in this reckless and intrepid character."
Yash Raj Films' next project to star Kapoor was the action thriller Aurangzeb (2013), whose title matches the name of a Mughal emperor of the same name. Marking the directorial debut of Atul Sabharwal, it co-starred Prithviraj Sukumaran, Jackie Shroff, Rishi Kapoor and Amrita Singh; he portrayed two estranged twin brothers, Ajay and Vishal, who end up in each other's places as part of a huge conspiracy to overthrow their biological father's empire. Critic Rachna Saltz from The New York Times said of Kapoor that he is a "star of an earlier generation" and is "well-cast and matched". However, the film underperformed at the box office.
For his first film in 2014, Kapoor teamed with Yash Raj Films for the third consecutive time on Gunday, a crime action film also starring Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, and Irrfan Khan. Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, it saw him and Singh portray two bandits with bold attitude, in love with a dancer (Chopra). He described his character as "temperamental" who acts as a "moment's heat." Film analyst Anupama Chopra mentioned the film as an "unabashed love letter to the 1970s." Gunday proved to be a commercial success and accumulated over ₹1.2 billion (US$12 million) worldwide.
As his three-film deal with Yash Raj Films concluded, Kapoor next collaborated with the producers Sajid Nadiadwala and Karan Johar to star opposite Alia Bhatt in a film adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's popular novel 2 States, released with the same title. He played Krish Malhotra, an IIM Ahmedabad MBA student wanting to become a writer. Saurabh Dwivedi stated that Kapoor "shows his pain through body language but falls short in some scenes opposite his co-actor Ronit Roy." The project was well appreciated, garnering critical acclaim, and earned more than ₹1.75 billion (US$18 million) worldwide to emerge as his biggest commercial success so far. He received a nomination for the IIFA Award for Best Actor. His last release of 2014 was Homi Adajania's adventurous satire Finding Fanny, which co-starred Deepika Padukone, Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, and Pankaj Kapur and the movie follows the lives of five dysfunctional people in search of a titular woman.
In 2015, Kapoor featured in his father's second younger brother Sanjay's first production Tevar, a remake of the Telugu film Okkadu (2003), in which he co-starred alongside Sonakshi Sinha and Manoj Bajpayee as a Kabaddi player. He was director Amit Sharma's only choice to play the role. Upon release, the film was poorly received both critically and commercially.
In 2016, Kapoor served as the host for the seventh season of Colors TV's reality stunts-performing series Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi. In the same year, he starred opposite Kareena Kapoor Khan in R. Balki's satirical comedy-drama Ki & Ka, based on the content of gender stereotypes. Kapoor portrayed the male lead Kabir Bansal, a stay-at-home husband. Writing for India Today, Ananya Bhattacharya gave the film a negative review and wrote that Kapoor "looks like a mouthing sharp". Nonetheless, the film received mixed reviews and emerged as a commercial success grossing ₹1.03 billion.
The Mohit Suri-directed teen romantic drama Half Girlfriend was Kapoor's first film appearance of 2017, which served as a retelling of Bhagat's novel of the same name. He was cast in the role of Madhav Jha, a basketball champion who hardly speaks English and ends up getting attracted towards a college girl (played by Shraddha Kapoor) when he joins a college. In an interview, Kapoor admitted that he signed the film despite not reading the novel. The film received mixed-to-negative reviews and emerged as a below average grosser at the box office. Later that year, Kapoor played twin brothers for the second time in Mubarakan, a comedy directed by Anees Bazmee, in which he starred alongside his uncle Anil Kapoor. The film also featured Ileana D'Cruz and Athiya Shetty as the love interests of his characters. In her review, Saibal Chatterjee wrote that Kapoor "demonstrates a comic flair that is crying out for a better film".
