Atul Kulkarni (born 10 September 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter who works in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, English, Odia and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

language films. Kulkarni won the National Award for the Best Supporting Actor for the films ''

Hey Ram ''Hey Ram'' () is a 2000 Indian epic historical fiction film written, directed, and produced by Kamal Haasan, that stars him in the title role with Shah Rukh Khan (in his Tamil debut) in a pivotal role. It was simultaneously made in the Tamil a ...

'' and ''

Chandni Bar ''Chandni Bar'' is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar. It depicts the gritty life of the Mumbai underworld, including prostitution, dance bars and gun crime. The film stars Tabu and Atul Kulkarni in lea ...

''. He is also the president of Quest, a research-action organization concentrating on enhancing quality of education. He left his study in engineering at

College of Engineering, Pune The College of Engineering Pune (COEP) Technological University is a unitary public university of the Government of Maharashtra, situated in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Established in 1854, it is the 3rd oldest engineering institute in India, aft ...

while he was in his first year. He is known for his performances in films like ''

'', ''

Rang De Basanti ''Rang De Basanti'' () is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language epic coming-of-age socio-political drama film written, produced, and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. The film stars an ensemble cast including Aamir Khan, Siddharth (in his Hindi d ...

'' (2006), ''

Natarang ''Natarang'', also spelled Natrang (, an wikt:ornamental, ornamental word for "artist", especially a theatre artist), is a 2010 Indian Marathi language, Marathi-language Drama (film and television), drama film directed by debutant Ravi Jadhav an ...

'' (2010) among others. He has also written the screenplay of '' Laal Singh Chadda'', the official remake of ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis. An adaptation of the Forrest Gump (novel), 1986 novel by Winston Groom, the screenplay of the film is written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks in the title rol ...

''.

Early life and career

Kulkarni received his diploma in acting from the National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1995. He is married to theater actress Geetanjali Kulkarni, whom he met at the National School of Drama. Kulkarni's first stint on stage was during his high school days. He participated in the Maharashtra State Drama Competition regularly. Between 1989 and 1992, he won awards for Acting and also for Drama-Direction. Atul enacted in Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi, the play made later famous by

Dilip Prabhavalkar Dilip Prabhavalkar (born 4 August 1944) is an Indian Marathi actor, director, playwright and author. He has a career spanning over five decades in Hindi and Marathi theatre, television and movies. He was awarded the National Film Award for Best ...

in Marathi professional theatre circuit until mid-90s. Later during his college days he actively participated in cultural gatherings. While studying, Atul joined Natya Aradhana, an amateur theatre group from Solapur. Atul Kulkarni holds a postgraduate diploma in

dramatic arts Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been c ...

from National School of Drama, New Delhi. Atul Kulkarni, a national-award winner and a fine actor, expresses his belief of art being a product of social, political and economic changes in the society.

Other works

Philanthropy

Kulkarni has been serving as President of Quest Education Support Trust. Quest Trust invests in running workshops and enabling Teachers, to support education for children of marginalized communities between 3–14 years. All this activity is mainly in State of Maharashtra. It conducts its activities in Marathi language. Atul Kulkarni has been active in sharing his knowledge on running NGO with other NGO's. He does visit Maharashtra based NGO's like Snehalaya regularly. Kulkarni has been involved in an environmental project, making a 24-acre barren land in Satara District into Green area.

Filmography

As actor

As screenwriter

Television/web series

Awards and nominations

; VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival * 2019: Won: Best Actor in ''Murder on the Road to Kathmandu''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kulkarni, Atul 1965 births Living people Male actors from Karnataka Male actors in Kannada cinema Male actors in Marathi cinema Male actors in Hindi cinema Male actors in Malayalam cinema Indian male film actors People from Belgaum Best Supporting Actor National Film Award winners Filmfare Awards South winners National School of Drama alumni 20th-century Indian male actors 21st-century Indian male actors