Hooda made his Bollywood debut with Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding in 2001. However, after a good performance in the film he waited four years for a second project, Ram Gopal Varma's D (2005), which earned him critical acclaim. After D, Hooda worked on a series of critically and commercially unsuccessful projects until he featured in Milan Luthria's Once Upon a Time in Mumbai (2010).
