Stars of Belgaum: Atul Kulkarni

From Today I am starting a new feature Stars of Belgaum. This will include stars related to Belgaum from all fields. If you know anyone like that kindly email me and I will surely share the word with others.

Atul Kulkarni: Atul was born on September 10, 1965 in Belgaum. His father, a businessman and mother, a housewife were settled in Solapur where he was brought up and educated.
His first appearance on stage was in his school, Haribhai Devkaran High School, Solapur. In his first play as a child, he personified colour BLUE! His friends remember him as a very quiet and introvert student. Academically he was an average student. His parents were always worried about his performance in exams...and his future too...!
Atul preferred home rather than play grounds... books than sports! Atul was always found in his favourite corner of his house...Reading...
His parents sent him to Belgaum for Junior College. He appeared for the 12th standard board exam...TWICE!!
Still entered into an Engineering College in Pune... and appeared for the First Year exam...THRICE!!!
He quit engineering......came back to Solapur. Finally Atul entered the field where he always wanted to be...Arts! And he topped at the graduation level from D. A. V. College, Solapur!
While in college, he helped his father in his business and also worked in an insurance company for a while.
During his college days, he appeared in a comedy at a cultural gathering...and he realised what he wanted!Atul joined Natya Aradhana, an amateur theatre group from Solapur.
Natya Aradhana groomed Atul as an actor under the able stewardship of Dr. Waman Degaonkar. He worked at back stage for two years and then got a chance to act on the stage of Natya Aradhana. These years of serious theatre ignited his passion for theatre; especially acting...the bug had bit him!
The part time activity was insufficient to quench his thirst. He decided to take acting as his profession. Feeling the need for a formal training, he decided to enter into the premier institute in theatre training in India, National School of Drama, New Delhi. Atul passed out from NSD in 1995 and at the age of 30, he became a professional actor.
Since 1995, Atul has acted in 8 plays in 4 languages, 26 films in 6 languages and has won several awards, including Two National Awards. His few acclaimed films include Rang De Basanti, Khakee, Valu and many others.