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

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

, Tamil, English, Odia and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

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

Hey Ram ''Hey Ram'' is a 2000 Indian period crime drama film written, directed and produced by Kamal Haasan, who also stars. It was simultaneously made in Tamil and Hindi languages. Shah Rukh Khan plays a supporting role, making his debut in Tamil ...

'' and '' Chandni Bar''. 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 COEP Technological University, is A Unitary Public University of Government of Maharashtra, situated in Pune, Maharashtra, India. Established in 1854, it is the 2nd oldest engineering college in India, after IIT Roorkee (1847). The students a ...

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

'', '' Chandni Bar'', ''

Rang De Basanti ''Rang De Basanti'' () is a 2006 Indian drama film written, produced and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, and co-written by Rensil D'Silva. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Aamir Khan, Siddharth (actor), Siddharth, R. Madhav ...

'' (2006), ''

Natarang ''Natarang'', also spelled Natrang ( mr, नटरंग, an ornamental word for "artist", especially a theatre artist), is a 2010 Indian Marathi-language drama film directed by debutant Ravi Jadhav and starring Atul Kulkarni and Sonalee Kul ...

'' (2010) among others. He has written the screenplay of Aamir Khan's movie Laal Singh Chadda. which is the official remake of Forrest Gump.

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 four decades in Hindi and Marathi theatre, television and movies. He was awarded the National Film Award for Bes ...

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 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

Films

Television/web series

Awards and nominations

National Film Awards

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

* 2001: Nominated: Best Supporting Actor for ''

'' * 2012: Won : Best Supporting Actor – Kannada for '' Edegarike'' ;

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures t ...

* 2010: Nominated: Best Performance by an Actor for ''

'' ;

VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in July in Vienna, capital of Austria. The festival focuses on independent cinema. History The Vienna Independent Film Festival was held for the first time ...

* 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