She initially planned to make her comeback with a biopic on Indian freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu, titled Sarojini Naidu—The Unsung Freedom Fighter. However, the pandemic and elections disrupted Shanthi Priya’s plans in 2020. In the interim, she shot for Dharavi Bank (2022), and the Tamil film, Bad Girl. 

Produced by filmmaker Vetri Maaran, directed by Varsha Bharath, and presented by Anurag Kashyap, Bad Girl won an award at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. Priya says, “Bad Girl is a beautiful comeback after 30 years for me. In this coming-of-age drama about a teenager, whose aim in life is to have a boyfriend, I play her mother. It’s a relationship conflict between a daughter and her mother. When I signed this film, [in my head] it was about what my mother, and now me, went through to raise kids.”