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Atul Kulkarni
Atul Kulkarni
	Atul at the screening of Sonata
Born	10 September 1965 (age 60); Belgaum, Karnataka, India
Alma mater	National School of Drama, New Delhi
Occupations	Actor; screenwriter; film producer;
Spouse	Geetanjali Kulkarni (m. 1996)
Website	www.atulkulkarni.com

Atul Kulkarni (born 10 September 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and English language films. Kulkarni won the National Award for the Best Supporting Actor for the films Hey Ram and Chandni Bar.^[1]^[2] 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 while he was in his first year.^[3] He is known for his performances in films like Hey Ram, Chandni Bar, Rang De Basanti (2006), Natarang (2010) among others. He has also written the screenplay of Laal Singh Chadda,^[4] the official remake of Forrest Gump.^[5]

Early life and career

Kulkarni received his diploma in acting from the National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1995.^[6] He is married to theatre actress Geetanjali Kulkarni (née Geetanjali Moreshwar Sherikar), whom he met at the National School of Drama.^[7]

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.^[8] Atul enacted in Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi, the play made later famous by Dilip Prabhavalkar in Marathi professional theatre circuit until mid-90s.^[9] 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.^[10]

Other works

Philanthropy

Kulkarni has been serving as President of Quest Education Support Trust.^[11] 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.^[12]

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.^[13] Kulkarni has been involved in an environmental project, making a 24-acre barren land in Satara District into Green area.^[14]

Filmography

Category:BLP articles lacking sources from January 2023 Category:All BLP articles lacking sources

As actor

Year	Film	Role	Language
1997	Bhoomi Geetha		Kannada
2000	Kairee		Marathi
	Jayam Manade Raa	Basavayah	Telugu
	Hey Ram	Shriram Abhyankar	Hindi Tamil
2001	Chandni Bar	Potya Sawant^[15]	Hindi
2002	Run	Bhaskar	Tamil
	Bhet	Prabhakar	Marathi
	Bibhatsa		Hindi
	Dahavi Fa	Ganesh Deshmukh	Marathi
2003	Mango Soufflé	Edwin 'Ed' Prakash	English
	88 Antop Hill	Pratyush Shelar	Hindi
	Satta	Yashwant Varde
	Dum	'Encounter' Shankar
	Vaastupurush	Nishikant Dada	Marathi
2004	Andhrawala	Bade Mia's sidekick	Telugu
	Chanti	MLA Sarvarayudu
	Gowri	Sarkar
	Mansarovar		Malayalam
	Vajram		Malayalam
	Khakee	Dr. Iqbal Ansari	Hindi
	Devrai	Shesh	Marathi
	Manmadhan	ACP Deva	Tamil
	Leela Mahal Center	GK	Telugu
	Chakwa	Tushar Khot	Marathi
2005	Page 3	Vinayak Mane	Hindi
2006	Kedi	Minister Pughazhenthy	Tamil
	Raam	Veerendra	Telugu
	Rang De Basanti	Laxman Pandey	Hindi
	Corporate	Narrator	Hindi
2007	Aa Dinagalu	Agni Shridhar	Kannada
	Maati Maay	Narsu	Marathi
	Gauri: The Unborn	Sandeep	Hindi
2008	Valu	Swanand Gaddamwar	Marathi
	Talappavu	Krishnadeva Saivar	Malayalam
	Kurukshetra
	D-17
2009	Yeh Mera India	Raj	Hindi
	Delhi 6	Gobar	Hindi
	Padikathavan	Kasi Anandan	Tamil
	Vandae Maatharam		Malayalam Tamil
	Jail	Lawyer	Hindi
2010	Yaksha	Machendranath Poonja	Kannada
	Sukhaant		Marathi
	Natarang	Guna Kagalkar	Marathi
	Allah Ke Banday	School Teacher	Hindi
	Bumm Bumm Bole		Hindi
2011	Panjaa	Kulkarni	Telugu
	Koffi Bar	Business man	Telugu
	Aagaah: The Warning	Aazan Khan	Hindi
	Chaalis Chauraasi	Bobby	Hindi
2012	Suzhal	Surya Narayanan	Tamil
2012	Edegarike	Agni Shridhar	Kannada
2013	Nimidangal	Business man	Tamil
	Aarambam	JCP Milind Virekar	Tamil
	The Attacks of 26/11	Inspector Shinde	Hindi
	Popat	Janya	Marathi
	Vallinam	Basketball Coach^[16]	Tamil
	Premachi Goshta	Ram	Marathi
	Zanjeer	Jayadev	Hindi
	The Lovers	Raoji	English
2014	@Andheri	Rajan Pilla	Malayalam
	Ugramm	Dhiraj Shivrudralingaiah	Kannada
	Veeram	Aadalarasu	Tamil
	Abhinetri		Kannada
	Burma	Bothra Seth	Tamil
	Happy Journey	Niranjan	Marathi
2015	Dirty Politics	Police Inspector	Hindi
	Mythri	Raviprakash	Kannada Malayalam
	Jazbaa	Lawyer	Hindi
	Nellikka	Satheesh	Malayalam
	Kanal	Kuruvila Mathew	Malayalam
	Rajwade and Sons	Shubhankar Rajwade	Marathi
2016	Pranam		Hindi
2016	Akira	Akira's father
2017	Raees	Jairaj
	The Ghazi Attack	Lieutenant Commander Santosh Devraj	Telugu Hindi
	Bongu	Subash, assistant commissioner	Tamil
	Aval The House Next Door	Paul, Jenny's Father	Tamil Hindi^[17]
	Koode	Coach Ashraf	Malayalam
2018	Black Bud	Mehmood Khan	Hindi
2019	Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi	Tatya Tope
	706	Shekhawat
	Mere Pyare Prime Minister	In PMO
	Junglee	Keshav Kotian
	Majili	Anshu's Father	Telugu
	Athiran	Dr. Benjamin Diaz	Malayalam
	Valiyaperunnal	Shivaji	Malayalam
	Alidu Ulidavaru	Police Inspector	Kannada
2020	Wild Dog^[18]	DIG Hemanth	Telugu
2021	Koi Jaane Na	Dr. Rao	Hindi
2022	A Thursday	Javed Khan	Hindi
	Manasmita	Panchakshari	Kannada
	Anya	Panchakshari	Marathi
2023	Khufiya	Shashank Mehra	Hindi
2025	Ekka	Masthan Bhai	Kannada
2026	Biker	Indraneel	Telugu
2026	Dacoit: A Love Story †	TBA	Telugu Hindi

As screenwriter


Year	Film	Language
2022	Laal Singh Chaddha	Hindi

Television/web series

Year	Series	Role	Notes
2017–18	The Test Case	Colonel Ajinkya Sathe
2019–2023	City of Dreams	Ameya Rao Gaikwad
2020	The Raikar Case	Yashwant Naik Raikar
	Bandish Bandits	Digvijay Rathore
	Sandwiched Forever	VK Sarnaik	^[19]
2021–present	Faraar - Kab Tak?	Host
2022	Rudra: The Edge Of Darkness	DCP Gautam Navlakha
2023	Happy Family: Conditions Apply	Ramesh Mansukhlal Dholakia

Awards and nominations

Awards	Year	Film	Category	Result	Ref.
National Film Awards	2000	Hey Ram	Best Supporting Actor	Won	^[20]
National Film Awards	2003	Chandni Bar	Best Supporting Actor	Won	^[21]
Filmfare Awards	2001	Hey Ram	Best Supporting Actor	Nominated
Asia Pacific Screen Awards	2010	Natarang	Best Performance by an Actor	Nominated	^[22]
Filmfare Awards South	2012	Edegarike	Best Supporting Actor – Kannada	Won	^[23]
Filmfare OTT Awards	2023	Happy Family: Conditions Apply	Best Actor Male in a Comedy Series	Nominated

VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival

2019: Won: Best Actor in Murder on the Road to KathmanduCategory:All articles with unsourced statements Category:Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023^{[citation needed]}

References

↑ "47th National Film Awards". International Film Festival of India. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
↑ "49th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. pp. 34–35. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
↑ "Atul Kulkarni: Lesser known facts about the actor". The Times of India. 10 September 2018. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
↑ "Laal Singh Chaddha writer Atul Kulkarni: I was not disappointed when the film didn't do well – Exclusive". The Times of India. 10 March 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
↑ "Atul Kulkarni Movies: Latest and Upcoming Films of Atul Kulkarni | eTimes". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
↑ "NSD-GRADUATES1" (PDF). nsd.gov.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
↑ "Theatre actor Geetanjali Kulkarni gets 'stamp' for film journey". The Times of India. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)Category:CS1 maint: deprecated archival service
↑ "www.atulkulkarni.com/". atulkulkarni.com. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 5 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
↑ "19970630-gandhi-virudh-gandhi-to-be-staged-at-tejpal-auditorium-mumbai-832641-1997-06-30". indiatoday.in. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
↑ "Actor Atul Kulkarni shares his thoughts on evolving subjects in cinema and throws light on his NGO, Quest". 14 May 2020. Archived from the original on 24 July 2020.
↑ "genesis". quest.org.in. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 31 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
↑ "ganeet_lekh". quest.org.in. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
↑ "Actor-Atul-Kulkarni-visits". snehalaya-charity. snehalaya.org. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
↑ "article17430551.ece". thehindu. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
↑ "Happy Birthday Tabu: From Andhadhun, Astitva, Chandni Bar to Cheeni Kum, Drishyam, Haider; actor's best roles till date | Latest News & Updates at DNAIndia.com". DNA India.
↑ G Dhananjayan (2014). Pride Of Tamil Cinema: 1931 To 2013. Blue Ocean Publishers. p. 546.
↑ "Mani Ratnam isn't a fan of horror films: Milind Rau". 5 October 2017.
↑ K., Janani (29 August 2020). "Nagarjuna turns 61: Wild Dog team unveils new poster on actor's birthday". India Today. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
↑ "Sandwiched Forever Review: Kunaal and Aahana show is a feel-good Christmas watch". India Today. 25 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
↑ "47th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
↑ "49th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
↑ "After Atul Kulkarni got nominated for the Best Actor award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2010 for his role in Natrang..." The Times of India. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
↑ Sharanya CR (21 July 2013). "Atul Kulkarni wears a Kannada attire for his Filmfare award". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 May 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2015.

External links

Atul Kulkarni at IMDb

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

[47thaward-1] "47th National Film Awards". International Film Festival of India. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2012.

[49thawardPDF-2] "49th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. pp. 34–35. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2012.

[3] "Atul Kulkarni: Lesser known facts about the actor". The Times of India. 10 September 2018. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 17 July 2025.

[4] "Laal Singh Chaddha writer Atul Kulkarni: I was not disappointed when the film didn't do well – Exclusive". The Times of India. 10 March 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2025.

[5] "Atul Kulkarni Movies: Latest and Upcoming Films of Atul Kulkarni | eTimes". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2020.

[6] "NSD-GRADUATES1" (PDF). nsd.gov.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2018.

[7] "Theatre actor Geetanjali Kulkarni gets 'stamp' for film journey". The Times of India. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)Category:CS1 maint: deprecated archival service

[www.atulkulkarni.com-8] "www.atulkulkarni.com/". atulkulkarni.com. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 5 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.

[19970630-gandhi-virudh-gandhi-to-be-staged-at-tejpal-auditorium-mumbai-832641-1997-06-30-9] "19970630-gandhi-virudh-gandhi-to-be-staged-at-tejpal-auditorium-mumbai-832641-1997-06-30". indiatoday.in. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.

[10] "Actor Atul Kulkarni shares his thoughts on evolving subjects in cinema and throws light on his NGO, Quest". 14 May 2020. Archived from the original on 24 July 2020.

[genesis-11] "genesis". quest.org.in. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 31 May 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.

[ganeet_lekh-12] "ganeet_lekh". quest.org.in. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.

[Actor-Atul-Kulkarni-visits-13] "Actor-Atul-Kulkarni-visits". snehalaya-charity. snehalaya.org. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2018.

[article17430551.ece-14] "article17430551.ece". thehindu. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2018.

[15] "Happy Birthday Tabu: From Andhadhun, Astitva, Chandni Bar to Cheeni Kum, Drishyam, Haider; actor's best roles till date | Latest News & Updates at DNAIndia.com". DNA India.

[16] G Dhananjayan (2014). Pride Of Tamil Cinema: 1931 To 2013. Blue Ocean Publishers. p. 546.

[17] "Mani Ratnam isn't a fan of horror films: Milind Rau". 5 October 2017.

[18] K., Janani (29 August 2020). "Nagarjuna turns 61: Wild Dog team unveils new poster on actor's birthday". India Today. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.

[19] "Sandwiched Forever Review: Kunaal and Aahana show is a feel-good Christmas watch". India Today. 25 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.

[47thawardPDF-20] "47th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2012.

[49thawardPDF2-21] "49th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2012.

[22] "After Atul Kulkarni got nominated for the Best Actor award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2010 for his role in Natrang..." The Times of India. 20 October 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2025.

[Kannada-23] Sharanya CR (21 July 2013). "Atul Kulkarni wears a Kannada attire for his Filmfare award". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 May 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2015.

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National Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1984–2000	Victor Banerjee (1984) Dipankar De (1985) Suresh Oberoi (1986) Thilakan (1987) Pankaj Kapur (1988) Nana Patekar (1989) Nedumudi Venu (1990) P. L. Narayana (1991) Sunny Deol (1992) Paresh Rawal (1993) Ashish Vidyarthi and Nagesh (1994) Mithun Chakraborty (1995) Nana Patekar (1996) Prakash Raj (1997) Manoj Bajpayee (1998) Atul Kulkarni (1999) H. G. Dattatreya (2000)
2001–2020	Atul Kulkarni (2001) Chandrasekhar (2002) Pankaj Kapur (2003) Haradhan Bandopadhyay (2004) Naseeruddin Shah (2005) Dilip Prabhavalkar (2006) Darshan Jariwala (2007) Arjun Rampal (2008) Farooque Shaikh (2009) Thambi Ramaiah (2010) Appukutty (2011) Annu Kapoor (2012) Saurabh Shukla (2013) Bobby Simha (2014) Samuthirakani (2015) Manoj Joshi (2016) Fahadh Faasil (2017) Swanand Kirkire (2018) Vijay Sethupathi (2019) Biju Menon (2020)
2021–present	Pankaj Tripathi (2021) Pavan Malhotra (2022) M. S. Bhaskar and Vijayaraghavan (2023)

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Atul Kulkarni
Atul at the screening of Sonata
Born	(1965-09-10) 10 September 1965 (age 60) Belgaum, Karnataka, India
Alma mater	National School of Drama, New Delhi
Occupations	Actor screenwriter film producer
Spouse	Geetanjali Kulkarni (m. 1996)
Website	www.atulkulkarni.com