Atul Kulkarni (born 10 September 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, English, Odia and Telugu 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. 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, the official remake of Forrest Gump.[3]
Early life and career
Kulkarni received his diploma in acting from the National School of Drama, New Delhi in 1995.[4] He is married to theater actress Geetanjali Kulkarni, whom he met at the National School of Drama.[5]
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.[6] Atul enacted in Gandhi Viruddh Gandhi, the play made later famous by Dilip Prabhavalkar in Marathi professional theatre circuit until mid-90s.[7] 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.[8]
Other works
Philanthropy
Kulkarni has been serving as President of Quest Education Support Trust.[9] 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.[10]
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.[11] Kulkarni has been involved in an environmental project, making a 24-acre barren land in Satara District into Green area.[12]
^"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.
