Bollywood has space for each and every cinema: Atul Kulkarni

Actor Atul Kulkarni may have experimented plenty with a range of
performances in films like Chandni Bar where he played a gangster, a
journalist in Page 3, a common man in Rang De Basanti and more
recently as a con man in Chaalis Chaurasi, but he admits that the
process of discovering more facets tohis personality continues. Atul,
in Lucknow recently for a professional commitment, tells us,"Every
profession has so many aspects and it's even more so in acting. I feel
there are plenty of possibilities and opportunities still left for me
to explore. It's an ongoing process."
At the same time, Atul is clear that playing a character well means
much more to him than grabbing every 'different' character that comes
his way. He explains, "My job is to convince the audience about the
character I am playing. At the end of the day I can't change myself.
It's only different characters that I play. And in those it should not
be me, Atul Kulkarni, it should be the character that is being played
by Atul Kulkarni. I'd rather concentrate on making my character more
convincing than trying to prove my acting prowess."
But isn't he considered an actor who essays mostly strong, dark
characters, we ask. Smiling at that Atul says, "I agree. Most of my
popular movies have seenme cast in serious roles. But then I am mostly
offered such roles. Once ina while a film like Chaalis Chaurasi comes
along which has shades of comedy too."
At the same time Atul doesn't really have a problem with being
typecast. Refusing to blamefilmmakers for offering him similar roles,
Atul says,"Casting is crucial for any film. With so much money
involved, directors seldomwant to take a chance and cast an actor whom
they haven't seen doing a similar role earlier. Isiliye Bollywood is
so quick to typecast actors. But I don'tlet that happen to me. After
Chandni Bar , I must have refused hundreds of roles that asked me to
play a character similar to the one I played there. So, the actor also
has to be convinced about his capabilities and stand firm in his
decision to refuse offers of doing same type of roles. It's a vicious
circle but I have tried that and been successful," says Atul, who will
now be seen in a Hollywood film Singularity along with Bipasha Basu,
Abhay Deol, Neve Campbell and Josh Hartnet. "It was really goodworking
on this film. It's a prestigious project directed by Roland Joffe,"
informs Atul, who is also acting in Ram Gopal Varma's 26/11 , Apoorva
Lakhia's Zanjeer and KC Bokadia's Dirty Politics .
Talking of money Atul is fully in support of the 100 crore cinema.
"Yes, I do believe in it. Films are being made with bigger budgets and
are making more money than just 100 crores. So, why not talk about it.
Pehle there used to be golden and silver jubilees, now we have the 100
crore club. So, it's justthat the name has changed, but the thing
remains the same," says Atul. "In fact, I'm very happy with the way
Bollywood is moving. We have at last started realising that there's
space for each and every cinema. Be it a Gangs Of Wasseypur or a Jab
Tak Hai Jaan , all have an audience here.
Interestingly, Atul doesn't rule out the chances of himturning a
director. "I would love that, because cinema is what makes me tick.
But that will come later. First let me prove myself as an actor," says
he.
In the meanwhile, the two-time National Award winning actor is doing
his bit for the environment. Atul and his cousins are in the process
of converting a barren piece of land into a dense forest. "I had
readan article about a couple who had developed a private forest in
Coorg, and were working towards preserving it. I wanted to do
something similar and wanted to give something back to the nature from
which we have stolen so much. So my cousins and I bought 24 acres of
land and we planted trees in that. It's been several years now and has
provedto be very successful. It was a barren land but is slowly
converting into a dense forest. Hopefully more people will be inspired
to do the same," signs off the actor.