Girish Kulkarni

Girish Pandurang Kulkarni (born 25 November 1977) is an Indian actor, writer, and producer. He is a recipient of two National Film Awards namely, National Film Award for Best Actor in 2011 for his performance in Deool and National Film Award for Best Screenplay for the same film. He is well known for Marathi films such as Valu, Vihir, Deool, Gabhricha Paus and Jaundya Na Balasaheb. He is known to Hindi audiences for his role in the Aamir Khan starrer Dangal and Anurag Kashyap's movie Ugly. He received acclaim for his portrayal of gangster 'Appa' in the 2017 Marathi crime thriller Faster Fene opposite Amey Wagh. He also starred in India's first Netflix original series Sacred Games as the Maharashtra home minister Bipin Bhosale character.

Personal life

Kulkarni was born on 25 November 1977 in the Paranda Taluka of Osmanabad district and grew up in Pune. He pursued his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Puranmal Lahoti Government Polytechnic Latur. He was involved in local stage plays. After Post Graduation, he worked for private IT companies for a while but soon enough he decided to pursue a career in writing. Kulkarni then joined the Marathi film industry.

Career Kulkarni began his career as a Cluster Programming Head for Radio Mirchi.

Valu, released in 2008, was a light, enjoyable movie portraying various stereotypical characters found in an Indian village through the simple story of a wild bull which needs to be captured. Inspired by his observations, and many of the characters he writes reflect authentic village people.

In 2009's Gabhricha Paus, he portrayed the tragic story of an Indian farmer from a small village in Vidarbha, who is suffering because of sparse rain, evil money lenders and the negligence of the Indian government towards farmers. His second release in 2009, Vihir, was an abstract movie which told the story of an adolescent boy who sets out to understand the meaning of life and death after his cousin and close friend dies. Vihir was screened at Berlin International Film Festival in 2010 and garnered praise and critical appreciation from all over the world.

His following movie Deool, released in 2011, which depicted how politicians manipulate the beliefs of innocent masses in the name of God. The film earned him two National Film Awards, for best actor and for best screenplay.

His next writing and acting venture in Marathi cinema, the movie Masala released in 2012 quickly became a family favourite, unveiling new aspects of his talents. In 2013, he made his acting debut in Bollywood with film-maker Anurag Kashyap's thriller Ugly, in which his performance as the inadvertently funny cop brought him the attention and praise of the industry as well as the masses.

Currently, work on his upcoming films is underway. His next is a Marathi movie titled Highway, starring Huma Qureshi and Tisca Chopra, which he has written, acted in, and co-produced. He is also working on a comedy film, with which he will mark his directorial debut, apart from acting in it.

He has acted as the National coach for Geeta Phogat in the acclaimed movie Dangal (film). The character had shades of grey and is shown to have issues with on-screen Mahavir Phogat. This was his biggest role in Bollywood, with Dangal earning over $300 million to become the 5th highest grossing non-English film of all time. He was also seen in Kaabil as Inspector Nalawade. Later in 2017, Kulkarni portrayed local gangster Appa in Faster Fene, based on the popular book series written by Bhaskar Ramachandra Bhagwat.

In 2018, Kulkarni portrayed politician Bipin Bhonsle in the Netflix original Sacred Games, based on the 2006 thriller by Vikram Chandra of the same name. With a star studded cast, including Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Radhika Apte, Sacred Games has been lauded by critics as one of the best web series to come out of India.

Filmography

Films Year Title Role Language Notes 2006 Badha Bevda Marathi 2008 Valu Jeevan 2009 Gabhricha Paus Kisna Gandha Mangesh Vihir Bhavasha Mama 2011 Deool Keshya 2012 Masala Revan Patil 2013 Pune 52 Amar Aapte Postcard Postman 2014 Ugly Vijay Jadhav Hindi 2015 Highway Shekhar Marathi 2016 Jaundya Na Balasaheb Balasaheb Marathi Dangal Wrestling Coach Pramod Kadam Hindi 2017 Kaabil Inspector Nalawade Faster Fene Appa Marathi 2018 Fanney Khan Karan Kakkad Hindi Boyz 2 Madan Bondwe Marathi 2019 Firebrand Madhav Patkar Dithee Govinda 2022 Bhirkit Tatya Marathi 2023 Thankam Inspector Jayant Sakhalkar Malayalam Jailer Bal Singh Tamil Ganapath Senior Hindi Boyz 4 Madan Bondwe Marathi Ekda Yeun Tar Bagha Shravan Dada 2024 Gaarud RK 2025 Deva Jairaj Apte Hindi Interrogation Rajan

Web series Year Title Role Language Platform Notes 2018 Sacred Games Bipin Bhosle Hindi Netflix 2022 Guilty Minds BhandariAmazon Prime Video 2026 Matka King TP D'souza

+ Writing and production credits Year Film Notes 2008 Valu Story, screenplay, Dialogues and producer 2009 Vihir Story, screenplay, Dialogues 2011 Deool 2012 Masala 2016 Jaundya Na Balasaheb Story, screenplay, Dialogues, Direction 2018 Dhappa Writer, Co-producer

Awards 2011 Deool - National Film Award for Best Actor 2011 Deool - National Film Award for Best Screenplay (Best Dialogue) Zee Chitra Gaurav Puraskar for Best Supporting Actor for film Valu. Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Marathi for film Faster Fene. 2017 Jaundyana Balasaheb - Zee Chitra Gaurav 2017 2024 Filmfare OTT Awards Nominated-Best Supporting Actor -Sunflower (web series) Season 2