Atul Kulkarni


Atul Kulkarni is an Indian film actor who works primarily in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. Kulkarni won the National Award for the best supporting actor for the films Hey Ram and Chandni Bar. He is also the president of Quest, a research-action organization concentrating on enhancing quality of education.

Early life

Kulkarni was born on 10 September 1965 in Belgaum, Karnataka, India. He completed his secondary education from Haribhai Deokaran High School, Solapur, Maharashtra. He completed his Junior College from Belgaum and completed his graduation in English literature at D. A. V. College, Solapur. Kulkarni received his diploma in acting from National school of Drama in 1995. He is married to theater actress Geetanjali Kulkarni, whom he met at National School of Drama.

Acting career

Kulkarni's first stint with 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 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. He shares his thoughts and talks about the success of his movie, ‘The Raikar Case’.

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.

Awards

; National Film Awards
; Filmfare Awards
; Asia Pacific Screen Awards
; VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival

Movies

Television