Tag Archives: Rang De Basanti

Atul Kulkarni
Interviews

Atul Kulkarni – a disciplined actor

Aside

He does not have any bad habits like smoking or drinking. He is very regular in maintaining his daily exercise schedule and eating habits at the appropriate time. An early lunch and early dinner, with a good sound sleep; has kept him going in today’s changing lifestyle. We have never seen him sitting idle. If he is all alone at public places like promotional events of his film or while attending press shows, you will find him either talking to someone, on his cell phone or reading or replying text messages.

Atul Kulkarni, Actor, PictureMarathi Movie world met this disciplined actor on two occasions during the past month. First, it was during the music release of his recently released film ‘Popat’ and later during the press show of the same film at famous studious. On both the occasions, he was occupied with discussions with the scribes, talking about this film. Indeed, Atul has given his best through this film, playing a typical fun loving videographer from a village. Knowing the strength of the role, he has tried to bring in that sudden change of his behaviour, after he realises that the character he plays in the video film, is very close to his real life character.

Otherwise, very selective about the roles offered to him, Atul having agreed to play the role of ‘happy go lucky’ – Janardan in ‘Popat'; itself indicated that the film was offering something different. When we asked him to comment on this, he openly admitted that the script of this film had appealed to him. One does not know the commercial success of this film; but, Atul certainly became part of the timely message on ‘social awareness’ delivered by the film maker through this film, in national interest . And, Atul seemed to be happy about it.

When asked about his other ongoing assignments, he frankly stated that he had no other assignments in hand, besides the TV show ‘Savdhaan Mumbai’ which was being aired on Life OK channel every Saturday and Sunday at 8 pm. “This show began from 10th August and I am doing 16 episodes as a narrator of this Police investigative serial based on crime detection. I really enjoyed, being part of this programme.” he said.

Having already performed opposite bigwigs like Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Khaki’, Kamal Hasan in ‘Hey Ram’, Tabu in ‘Chandani Bar’ , Aamir khan in ‘Rang De Basanti’ ; he has already bagged the National Awards for the best supporting actor for the films ‘Hey Ram’ and ‘Chandni Bar’, which itself speaks about his ability to deliver his best through any given role, which of course is of his choice. The length of the role doesn’t seem to matter to him much. This has become clear, through his role in ‘Khaki'; that too in presence of well known artistes like Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Tanuja, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and others around.

Atul’s next Bollywood film ‘Zanjeer’, is all set to release soon. In this film, he plays the character of Jaydev. This being the debut film of South star Ram Charan, (son of Telugu superstar Chhiranjeevi), opposite popular Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, has raised lot of expectations. Atul has already been part of more than dozen of south films. To him, language of the film does not matter. It’s all in the body language and spontaneity, at any given situation. And, he is good at that.

Atul Kulkarni
Interviews

Atul Kulkarni – An actor par excellence

Aside

The more you write about actor Atul Kulkarni is less. In Marathi, Hindi and South Indian films, he has performed with total conviction. Watch his commitment in ‘Natarang’ and at the same time playing one of the protagonists in Aamir Khan’s hit film ‘Rang De Basanti’. He invites all the attention, while on screen, as a passionate performer. This itself is his identity as an actor. With his intense acting skills, he has won the hearts of not only people all over Maharashtra but all parts of India.

Atul KulkarniBorn in Belgaum, Atul completed his secondary education from Haribhai Deokaran High School, Solapur, Maharashtra. His father, a businessman, had then settled in Solapur. He joined for electrical engineering at College of Engineering Pune. But, due to lack of interest in Engineering, he returned back to Solapur and joined D. A. V. College, to complete his graduation in English literature. Atul later married theatre actress Geetanjali Kulkarni, whom he met at National School of Drama, Delhi. Not many people are aware that Atul made his film debut through Kannada film ‘Bhoomi Geetha’ in 1997 and has also acted in many south Indian language films.

Atul Kulkarni ActorAtul Won Best Supporting Actor award in Kamal Hasan’s film ‘Hey Ram’ in the year 2000 followed by another best supporting actor’s award in 2002 for Madhur Bhadarkar’s film ‘Chandani Bar’. This brought him name and fame, which was so necessary to enable him to select the roles suited to him. After ‘Satta’ in 2003, we have seen at least 2 to 3 films of Atul released every year in different languages like Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, kannada and Malyalam , besides Marathi. And, his forthcoming film will be ‘Singularity’ in English.

Very few actors from Marathi films have managed to establish themselves in Bollywood and Atul is the latest addition to that list. Last time, while speaking to Marathi Movie World, he had said that Film scripts were more important to him than the language of the film. “I have never accepted any random film offers, just for the sake of being a regular face in the film industry,” he said.

In short, Atul is more concerned about Quality than quantity. Just watch him in that wonderful act in ‘Rang De Basanti’ where he tries to explain that the emotions of a character arise from the heart and one does not have to rehearse for such scenes. His role of an investigative Journalist in Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Page 3’ shows his personal efforts in preparing for such a role. To present Guna kagalkar inhit Marathi film ‘Natarang’ ,he must have worked very hard, with the required body language, in the second half of the film. The director can bring out the best from the actor, provided the actor also gives his 100%. And, Atul is the kind of an actor, who always gives his 100%.

When Atul was selected to play as lead hero opposite Sagarika Ghatge and that too in a Marathi film which dealt with post marriage love, many people raised their eyebrows. But, after watching ‘Premachi Goshta’, Atul has removed all the doubts. His portrayal of the character of Ram Subramanyam, a script writer by profession, is very convincing. Very sensitively, he has got involved into his character, which is clearly noticed through all those close up scenes in the film. His expressions during that last scene before interval, speaks everything about his capacity as an actor.

Atul was very much there physically to find out the reactions of media representatives, after the press show of the film two days before the film’s release. And, he was all smiles, to welcome each one of them. He could spot the satisfaction on the faces of all those coming out, after watching his film. This showed his confidence as an actor. There is much more, to come from this brilliant actor, in years to come. After all, he is an actor par excellence .