Actor · Telugu cinema
Atul Kulkarni
Atul Kulkarni movies: 11 Telugu films on file, 2000–2026. Earliest on file: Jayam Manade Raa (2000). Latest release: Dacoit: A Love Story (10 April 2026).
- Films on file
- 11 (11 as actor)
- Years on file
- 2000–2026
- Born
- 10 September 1965 · September birthdays (Wikidata)
- Record
- Q4818791 on Wikidata
Atul Kulkarni (born 10 September 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and English films. He won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for both Hey Ram and Chandni Bar, and is also known for Rang De Basanti (2006) and Natarang (2010). He wrote the screenplay for Laal Singh Chaddha, the official remake of Forrest Gump, and in Telugu cinema he appeared in Majili (2019).
Theatre beginnings
Kulkarni first acted on stage in high school and competed regularly in the Maharashtra State Drama Competition, winning awards for acting and for directing between 1989 and 1992. In college he joined Natya Aradhana, an amateur theatre group from Solapur. He began studying engineering at the College of Engineering, Pune, but left during his first year.
Training
He went on to the National School of Drama in New Delhi, where he earned a postgraduate diploma in dramatic arts, completing it in 1995. It was there that he met the theatre actress Geetanjali Kulkarni, whom he later married.
Film career
His performances in Hey Ram and Chandni Bar each won him the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, and he became widely known for roles in films such as Rang De Basanti and Natarang. He has spoken of his belief that art is a product of the social, political and economic changes in society. In 2019 he won the Best Actor award at the Vienna Independent Film Festival for Murder on the Road to Kathmandu, and he later wrote the screenplay of Laal Singh Chaddha.
Telugu film
In Telugu, he was part of the supporting cast of Shiva Nirvana‘s romantic sports drama Majili (2019), starring Naga Chaitanya and Samantha Ruth Prabhu.
Education work and philanthropy
Kulkarni is president of the Quest Education Support Trust, a research-action organisation that works to improve the quality of education. Working mainly in Maharashtra and in Marathi, it runs workshops for teachers to support the education of children aged 3 to 14 from marginalised communities. He also shares his experience of running an NGO with other organisations, regularly visits Maharashtra-based NGOs such as Snehalaya, and has been involved in an environmental project turning 24 acres of barren land in Satara district into green cover.
Career on file
Atul Kulkarni appears in 11 Telugu films on file at Tollywood Desk, dated from 2000 to 2026. The earliest of them is Jayam Manade Raa (2000), and the most recent release is Dacoit: A Love Story (2026). Measured by how many Wikipedia language editions cover them, the best-known titles here are Majili (2019), Panjaa (2011) and Wild Dog (2021). Other recent releases on file are Biker (2026), Jessie (2019) and Satyameva Jeyathe (2009).
Brahmanandam is the most frequent co-star, sharing four films with Atul Kulkarni, followed by Charmy Kaur (2) and Dr. Rajasekhar (2). Among directors, Nimmala Shankar cast Atul Kulkarni most often, in two films. Music on two of them is by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Across these films the credits on file name 9 different directors, 12 music directors and 37 other credited actors.
Runtime is on file for 9 of them; they average 146 minutes, and the longest is Gowri at 169 minutes. Five of them have a streaming (OTT) release noted on the site. By decade the list splits into 2000s (5), 2010s (3) and 2020s (3).
Figures come from the films on file at Tollywood Desk and change as records are added.