Making her acting debut at the age of 16, Pooja Pawar Salunkhe, began her career in the Marathi film industry in 1987. However, after appearing in her maiden movie Sarja, which went on to win the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Marathi in 1987, she went on to work with some of the top filmmakers of Marathi cinema such as Dr. Jabbar Patel, Mahesh Kothare, Chandrakant Kulkarni, Vikram Gokhale and Rajdutt. Pooja was a part of several blockbuster movies such as Topi Var Topi (1995), Chikat Nana, Ek Hota Vidushak (1992), Zapatlela (1993), and Vishwavinayak (1994). However, the actress then took a break after her marriage and only made a comeback in 2014 with the movie Headline. In the same year, she appeared in another movie Gondan. Her 2017 release includes the movie Dhondi directed by Monish Pawar.