Her passion for acting, has kept her going. In spite of her marriage to Nachiket Pantavaidya MD of Fox TV Studios in 2010; and turning a mother in real life in 2011, has not kept her away from acting field. In fact, while she was carrying, Sonali performed in National award winning Marathi film ‘Deool’. As an actress, Sonali has gone through all the three mediums of acting; i.e. Stage, television and films. She has been comfortable with both Hindi and Marathi and successfully managed to work simultaneously in both the industries.
Only few weeks ago her Marathi film ‘Kokanastha’ was released, which was a remake of 2005 Hindi film ‘Viruddh’. Two years ago, we found her winning few awards for her performance in the film ‘Deool’. Almost at the same time, we saw her in a prominent role of a widow, fighting for justice in super hit film ‘Singham’. Known for her memorable performances in films like ‘Mukta’ , ‘Dil Chahata Hai’, ‘Bride and Prejudice’, ‘Well Done Abba’, ‘Taxi No. 9211′ ‘Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar’, ‘Doghi’, ‘Dayara’, ‘Gandha’ and ‘Gabhricha Paus’; Sonali has bagged Filmfare Best Actress, Award (Marathi) for ‘Doghi’ and Star Screen Award (Marathi), Best Actress award for ‘Devrai’ She has also received National Film Award – Special Jury Award / Special Mention (Non-Feature Film), ‘Chaitra’.
Sonali has now returned to Marathi stage after a long gap, through ‘White Lily Aani Night Rider’, where she plays the lead role opposite Milind Phatak. This role was initially played by Rasika Joshi , whose untimely death had stalled the popular play. Having taken lessons of acting from late Pt,. Satyadev Dubey in Mumbai, Sonali had also acted in his English play ‘An actor dies..But…” Earlier, while in Pune, during her college days, she was associated with her own group ‘Samanvay’ along with her brother-Sandesh Kulkarni. And they presented many plays at Inter collegiate and other competitions. Sonali has performed in Makarand Deshpande’s play ‘Basant ka Teesra Yauvan’ and with Anurag kashyap in Hindi play ‘Sir Sir Sarla’.
But, with return to Marathi stage, Sonali Kulkarni has added a special flavour to this revived play, which is drawing full houses at present. The show at Prabodhankar Thackeray was full on Saturday 25th May, which speaks about her success as a stage actress. Unlike her screen presence, Sonali has attempted something different, through her body language, which invites all the attention during stage plays. Watch that sequence when both Sonali and Milind, not happy with each other, prefer silence and decide to communicate through written messages. Sonali has certainly generated spontaneous humour through her acting skills.
Besides her acting skills, Sonali is also passionate about writing. She was the guest editor for the Loksatta Weekly supplement – Viva, since it was launched in June 2005. She wrote a popular column ‘So Kul’ for them, till May 2007. Her articles, which were very popular amongst Maharashtrian women talked about a young, sensitive, successful woman’s perspective on Life. Her column was light hearted, sensitive and very meaningful.
Later, a book with the same name ‘So Kul’ was launched by Loksatta & Rajhans Prakashan ,which was a compilation of over 100 articles written by her. “So Kul, is a reflection of my attitude in life and also happens to be the abbreviation of my name!,” says Sonali.
