In 2000, he moved to Mumbai, where a friend got a grant to produce a documentary, and offered him the project. Soon he started making documentaries and ad films. Thereafter, he formed a production company 'Quarter Inch Productions', along with his colleague Shital Bhatia which specialized in making television programmes, ad films and documentaries. In 2008, Neeraj and Shital Bhatia formed a production house named Friday Filmworks, which was the original Producer of his debut film, A Wednesday!. The film's script was inspired by the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings.
After directing his first movie in 2008, Neeraj directed his second movie Special 26 in 2013, starring Akshay Kumar and Kajal Aggrawal. Neeraj is very fluent in Bengali and also produced a Bengali film, The Royal Bengal Tiger in 2014. In the same year he also produced the film Total Siyappa starring Yami Gautam and Ali Zafar. In 2015, he directed the movie Baby starring Akshay Kumar. In 2016, he produced the film Saat Uchakkey which was a comedy film starring Manoj Bajpayee, Kay Kay Menon and Aditi Sharma.
In 2011, Neeraj produced the film Taryanche Bait.
Pandey has also written his debut novel titled Ghalib Danger which was launched on 6 December 2013. The novel is soon going to be made into a motion picture.
In 2016, Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Entertainment announced a joint venture with Pandey and Friday Filmworks to form Plan C studios for production of films. Akshay Kumar starrer Rustom was the first film under the banner, Plan C Studios. It is an equal partnership joint venture between the two.
He has also directed the short film Ouch with Manoj Bajpayee and Pooja Chopra which is nominated for the Filmfare Short Film Award 2017.
Pandey’s upcoming project Aiyaary, written, directed by himself and produced under the banner of Plan C Studios, is a crime drama thriller on the Indian borders. Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee play the lead characters Jai Bakshi and Abhay Singh respectively. Naseeruddin Shah reunites with the filmmaker after their first venture, A Wednesday!. Anupam Kher is also playing a major role in the film. The film is tentatively scheduled to hit the theatres on 26 January 2018, Republic Day. Aiyaary is under production and most of the shooting is completed. The film is based on true incidents, a theme we have witnessed in his previous creations as well.
