Girish Kulkarni

Girish Kulkarni was born in the Paranda Taluka of Osmanabad District and he was brought up in Pune. He pursued his Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Puranmal Lahoti Government Polytechnic Latur. While studying in Latur, he was involved in local stage plays. Post his graduation, he worked for private engineering companies for a while but soon enough, he decided to follow his passion and pursue a career in writing. He has now joined the film industry

Before starting his cinematic career, Girish Kulkarni was working with Radio Mirchi as a Cluster Programming Head. He enjoys creating stories inspired by his observations, and many of the characters he writes reflect authentic village people. 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.

Girish Kulkarni presents Valu in Karlovy Vary in 2008

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. His next writing and acting venture in Marathi cinema, the movie Masala released in 2012 and 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 latest 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 2016. The character had shades of grey and is shown to have issues with Mahavir Phogat.