Atul Kulkarni's birthday: Critically acclaimed performances of actor
Atul Kulkarni is one of the finest and most versatile actors in Indian cinema. He predominantly works in Hindi and Marathi cinema but has also done numerous projects in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, English, and Odia languages. To celebrate his 58th birthday on Sunday (September 10), we present to you some of the most critically acclaimed films in his career of almost three decades.
'Hey Ram' (2000)
Directed, written, and produced by Kamal Haasan, Hey Ram is a 2000 fictional film on India's partition and Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. Kulkarni was chosen to play the character of Shriram Abhayankar. The film won a total of three National Film Awards, including one for Kulkarni (his first) for Best Supporting Actor. Its ensemble cast included Haasan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Hema Malini, among others.
'Chandni Bar' (2001)
Madhur Bhandarkar's 2001 crime drama Chandni Bar depicted Kulkarni in the role of Pottya Sawant, while Tabu essayed the female protagonist, Mumtaz. It revolves around Mumbai's gritty life, including prostitution, underworld, gun crime, and dance bars. Kulkarni won his second National Film Award for the movie as Best Supporting Actor. The film won three more National Film Awards, including Best Actress for Tabu.
'Rang De Basanti' (2006)
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra chose an ensemble cast comprising Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, Siddharth, Kunal Kapoor, Kulkarni, Soha Ali Khan, Sharman Joshi, Alice Patten, Anupam Kher, and Waheeda Rehman, among others, for Rang De Basanti. It revolves around a British student who comes to India to make a film on the country's revolutionary movement and its freedom fighters, for which she casts five young men.
'Natarang' (2010)
In Kulkarni's words, his Natarang "role and the script have challenged" him the most so far. The Marathi film, which was released in 2010, is based on Anand Yadav's 1978 Marathi novel of the same name. It marked the directorial debut of Ravi Jadhav and starred Kulkarni and Sonalee Kulkarni in the lead roles. It was also screened at the MAMI Film Festival.
