Sandeep Kulkarni

Sandeep Kulkarni was born on November 16, 1964, in Pune, Maharashtra, India. He is an actor and painter, known for Pratisaad: The Response (2010), Dombivali Fast (2005) and The Waiting Room (2010). He has been married to Kanchan Naik since 1999. They have one child.He has worked in Marathi films as well as theatre.

Born in Pune, Sandeep was raised in a Maharashtrian middle-class family by his father Shrikant Kulkarni and his mother Lata Kulkarni. He is an alumnus of J. J. School of Arts, Mumbai.

After intense theatre for four years in English, Marathi and Hindi, his career started to take shape in television. He played varied roles such as that of young Muslim lawyer Salim in love with a local Muslim woman on 9 Malabar Hill on Zee TV, a press reporter in Farz on DD Metro, an underworld don who deals with drugs in Swabhiman on DD, a counselor in Nyay on DD Metro. He also played the role of a cop who solves the mystery behind an old couple refusing to accept the dead body of their son in the much-talked-about one-hour suspense thriller First Kill directed by Shriram Raghavan.

Sandeep’s career in films began with his first role in the movie Mammo (1994) directed by the legendary Shyam Benegal, set in the backdrop of India-Pakistan partition (1947). He was seen playing the role of an immigration officer (Apte) who tries to help the immigrant protagonist Mammo.

He played the role of a gangster, Shankar, who chases the hero throughout the plot wearing a new pair of shoes that bite and eventually hurt him in Is Raat Ki Subaah Nahin (1996) directed by Sudhir Mishra. His role added to the black humor of the film.

He played a Naxalite who later becomes an activist, in spite of his colleagues being caught and killed in Hazar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1998), directed by Govind Nihalani.

Shwaas (2004), directed by Sandip Sawant, put Sandeep’s performance in the spotlight. He played the role of an oncologist who attempts to convince the grandfather of a child suffering from eye cancer to agree to a life-saving surgery although he is faced with the reality of child becoming permanently blind. Sandeep’s biggest compliment of his career was earned when, after watching the film, the legendary actor Shabana Azmi asked him if he had studied medicine. Shwass won Sandeep numerous awards: the State Award being one of them. The film won the National Award as well and was India’s official entry to the Oscars.

Awards

• 2004 National Award for Shwaas
• 2005 National Award for Dombivali Fast
• 2007 National Award for Traffic Signal