Mumbai: Today is the birthday of Sonali Kulkarni, a leading actress in Hindi and Marathi films. Sonali from Pune started her career with Girish Karnad’s Kannada film Cheluvi.
Sonali has so far acted in more than 60 films in 7 languages. Apart from this, she has also worked in many Marathi TV serials.
In 1992, Sonali received her first film offer while she was studying in college but rejected it in fear of missing classes. However, she later agreed to the project and the film not only won the National Award but it was also screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
She has appeared in many films including an Italian film titled Fuoco Su di Me, for which she won an award in the 2006 Milan International Film Festival. Her popular Hindi films include Dil Chahta Hai and Mission Kashmir. Apart from this, she also acted in successful Hindi films like Darna Zaroori Hai, Dil-Vil Pyar-Vyar, Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya and Singham.
Apart from acting, she was an editor with Viva, a supplement of Marathi daily newspaper Loksatta from June 2005 till May 2007. She used to pen a weekly column called So Kool. The columns are published in the book So Kool by Rajahansa Prakashan. Actor Nana Patekar on the release of this book said, “Whenever I read her articles, I feel she is talking to me. There is so much of simplicity in her writing.”
Sonali faced many ups and downs in her personal life. Sonali’s first brief marriage with Chandrakant Kulkarni, film and theatre director and writer, ended in a divorce. Since 24 May 2010 she is married to Nachiket Pantvaidya, current head of Sony Entertainment Television.