Padmanabhan continued working as a journalist and book reviewer into her 20s and 30s.[3] She began her career as an illustrator in 1979 with Ali Baig's book Indrani and the Enchanted Jungle.[2]

In 1982, Padmanabhan created a comic strip, Doubletalk, which featured the female character Suki.[4] She wrote a pitch to The Sunday Observer editor Vinod Mehta, who published her strip for many years.[5][6] Suki then appeared six days a week in Delhi paperThe Pioneer from 1992 to 1998. When Vinod Mehta left the publications and The Pioneer stopped publishing comics, Padmanabhan stopped creating Doubletalk.

Padmanabhan won the first ever Onassis Award for her play Harvest. An award-winning film Deham was made by Govind Nihalani based on the play.

Padmanabhan has continued to work as an author and illustrator, and has published short stories within many different volumes.

Padmanabhan returned to creating comics featuring Suki with the strip Suki Yaki for The Hindu's Business Line.

• 2006 - Sextet.
• 2003 - Harvest. London: Aurora Metro Books
• 1996 - The Artist's Model.
• 1984 - "Lights Out"[3]

• 2015 - Island of Lost Girls. Hachette.
• 2013 - Three Virgins and Other Stories New Delhi, India: Zubaan Books.
• 2011 - I am different! Can you find me? Watertown, Mass: Charlesbridge Pub.
• 2008 - Escape. Hachette.
• 2005 - Unprincess! New Delhi: Puffin Books.
• 2005 - Double talk. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
• 2004 - Kleptomania: Ten Stories. New Delhi: Penguin Books.
• 2004 - Mouse Invadors. Pan MacMillan. Written under the name Manjula Padma.
• 2003 - Mouse Attack. Pan MacMillan. Written under the name Manjula Padma.
• 2000 - This is Suki! New Delhi: Duckfoot Press.
• 1996 - Hot death, cold soup: twelve short stories. New Delhi: Kali for Women.
• 1986 - A Visit to the City Market New Delhi: National Book Trust

• 1989 - Indi Rana and Manjala Padmanabhan. The Devil in the Dustbin. London: Hamish Hamilton.
• 1984 - Maithily Jagannathan and Manjula Padmanabhan. Droopy dragon. New Delhi: Thomson Press.
• 1979 - Baig, Tara Ali, and Manjula Padmanabhan. Indrani and the enchanted jungle. New Delhi: Thomson Press (India) Ltd.

• 2015 - Suki Yaki. The Hindu's Business Line.

Short Stories
• 2019 - "The Rehearsal" in Displaced lives fiction, poetry, memoirs, and plays from four continents. Ed. Frank Stewart, series editor; Alok Bhalla, Ming Di, guest editors. Honolulu University of Hawaii Press.
• 2012 - "The other woman" in Breaking the bow speculative fiction inspired by the Ramayana. Ed. Anil Menon, Vandana Singh. New Delhi: Zubaan.
Autobiography
• 2002 - Getting There

"... When young, unemployed Om lands a coveted job at the mammoth Inter-Planta corporation, his slum life (and that of his Indian family) is transformed overnight. In a Faustian exchange for luxuries like a private bath in his own home, Om has signed away his body parts. In Padmanabhan's witty and fast-paced satirical drama, the new world order is comprised of Receivers and Donors. In the colonialism of the future, the dominant group will pay handsomely for the right to harvest the healthy organs of wealthy westerners."

"Savage, swiftian and with humour so black that what little laughter it provokes is painful, Manjula Padmanabhan's award-winning play is really an allegory about relationships."

"Harvest compels from beginning to end, creating a not-so-fanciful futuristic world that's pretty darned scary."

"... a fascinating, funny, and frightening glimpse of what happens when we commodify human beings. Although it addresses globalization, the play's issues are universal."