Career fluctuations and setback (2007–2016)
Rao was cast alongside Mahesh Babu in the 2007 Telugu action film Athidhi. The film was directed and co-written by Surender Reddy. She received mostly positive reviews, with critics praising the chemistry between Rao and Mahesh Babu. Radhika Rajamani for Rediff.com noted, "Amrita Rao, who makes her debut in Telugu films, makes a mark." "Moviebuzz" for Sify wrote, "Amrita Rao is not only beautiful but also glamorous. She has proved that she could be yet another native girl of Tollywood. She emoted well with convincing histrionics fit for the Telugu screen."
Rao had two major releases in 2008: drama My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves opposite newcomer Nikhil Dwivedi, and Shyam Benegal's comedy film Welcome to Sajjanpur. My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves received overwhelmingly negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office. Rao's performance as an orphan who lives a middle-class lifestyle was praised by a few critics; OneIndia Entertainment noted, "Amrita Rao looks gorgeous, but her role isn't substantial enough." In Welcome to Sajjanpur, Rao played the role of Kamala, a woman who is desperate for communication from her husband Bansiram (Kunal Kapoor), a laborer at a dockyard in Mumbai. Successful in creating an impact at the box office, the film obtained positive reviews from critics and earned ₹20 million (US$210,000), making it the second-highest-grossing film in Rao's career. Hindustan Times noted, "Amrita Rao is sweetness personified." She received the Stardust Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film. In the same year, Rao made a guest appearance as Nirja Rathore in the courtroom drama Shaurya.
Rao made her debut as a judge with the 2009 television show Perfect Bride. She judged the show alongside Shekhar Suman and Malaika Arora. She next starred with Harman Baweja in the 2009 film Victory. The film faced competition from other films such as Raaz 2 and Dev.D and failed to do well. With a huge budget, it only managed to gross ₹1 crore (US$100,000) and was declared a disaster by Box Office India. That same year, Rao took on the lead role in Neeraj Vora's comedy-drama Short Kut: The Con is On opposite Akshaye Khanna, produced by Anil Kapoor. The film stars Rao as Mansi, the girlfriend of Akshaye's character. Critical response towards the film and Rao's performance received negative reviews, with The Indian Express's Shubhra Gupta noted: "Everything is loud and plastic, and the actors all chant their lines at the top of their voices." Gaurav Malini of The Times of India stated, "Amrita Rao tries too hard to look hot but lacks oomph in every possible angle". Though having grossed its budget back, it was considered a financial disappointment.
Rao's only film of 2011 was Love U...Mr. Kalakaar! and her second collaboration with Rajshri Productions. The movie generated mostly negative reviews and emerged as a commercial failure. Though, her performance as the daughter of a businessman was praised by the critics. Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Amrita Rao at best, but the film is so predictable and so long, it loses impact". In later years, Rao made special appearances in comedy-drama Heyy Babyy (2007), romantic-comedy Life Partner (2007), and science fiction romance Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (2010).
In 2013, Rao starred in the national award-winning, courtroom, comedy-drama Jolly LLB. She played the lead role of Sandhya, the girlfriend of Arshad Warsi's character. The film received positive reviews and won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. Rao with limited performance in the film received average applause. Mohar Basu of Koimoi commented, "Amrita Rao could have been avoided in the film altogether. Though she is immensely pleasant, she and her role have nothing to contribute to the film".
Anil Sharma's action drama Singh Saab the Great was her next release. Co-starring alongside Sunny Deol, Rao played a journalist Shikha Chaturvedi. The film was largely panned by critics but Rao's performance earned positive reviews. Namrata Joshi of Outlook said, "Amrita Rao plays a role that feels like something she has already done, all the emotional support". The film received predominately negative reviews, nevertheless was an above-average grosser at the box office with revenues of ₹29 crore (US$3.0 million). Later that year, she appeared alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, and Manoj Bajpai in Prakash Jha's political drama Satyagraha. Rao played the role of Sumitra, the daughter-in-law of Amitabh Bachchan's character. Rao was praised in particular; Resham Sengar of Zee News wrote, "Ms. Rao has the sweetly cherubic looks. She is convincing in most of the emotional scenes. But again, her scope of performance is just limited to mouthing a few important dialogues." The film was poorly received by critics and failed to make a profit at the box office. Despite having moderate reviews, the film grossed over ₹60 crore (US$6.2 million) at the domestic box office.
Rao made her television acting debut in 2016 with &TV's Meri Awaaz Hi Pehchaan Hai portraying the elder sister Kalyani Gaikwad. The story showed three generations of two sisters whose lives revolve around music. Her character's older version was played by Deepti Naval.
