Mrinal Kulkarni

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mrinal Kulkarni

• Mrinal Kulkarni is an Indian theatre artist, TV & film actor, and film director.

• She belongs to a Hindu family from Maharashtra.

  

• She was spotted by the Marathi film actor & director Gajanan Jagirdar in 1990, while she was performing at an inter-college festival. He then offered her to act in the Marathi TV series ‘Swami,’ and she accepted the offer. During an interview, while sharing the incident, she said,
  

  Actually, it was at an inter-collegiate festival in 1990 that Gajanan Jahagirdar, who was making Swami, spotted me. I wasn’t looking for roles or anything. Since Swami was a prestigious project, I agreed immediately. Even then, I continued with my studies, took my graduation exams.”

• She wanted to pursue a PhD degree from SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai after completing her graduation. Although she enrolled herself in the university for PhD programme, after her debut Marathi serial, she could not pursue the degree as she started getting more offers for TV serials and films. During an interview, she talked about it. She said,
  

  I was offered Shrikant. I did it in order to work with talented actors like Farooque Sheikh. Yet, I was so sure that I wanted to finish my PhD. I wasn’t comfortable doing the kind of roles that were being offered to me. So I enrolled myself for research at SNDT University. Meanwhile, I got married. I had a son. The offers kept coming. Then in 1996, Sanjay Khan offered me a choice of roles in The Great Maratha. I refused it outright, but he insisted that I should at least hear him out. He offered me a choice between playing the role of Mahadji Scindia’s wife and Ahilyabai Holkar. By the end of the meeting, Ahilyabai Holkar’s role had caught my fancy. It was then that I thought that I’d take up acting as a profession.”

• She then acted in many Marathi TV serials such as ‘The Great Maratha’ (1994), ‘Avantika’ (2001), and ‘Raja Shivchatrapati’ (2008).

  

• Mrinal has also acted in Hindi TV serials like ‘Son Pari’ (2000), ‘Astitva…Ek Prem Kahani’ (2002), ‘Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat’ (2008), and ‘Kaali – Ek Agnipariksha’ (2010).
  

• She received professional training in Kathak under the renowned Kathak guru Pandit Uma Dogra Ji for the 2009 Hindi TV serial ‘Meera.’

  

• Apart from TV serials, she has also appeared in various Hindi and Marathi films. Some of her Marathi films are ‘Jai Jai Maharashtra Majha’ (2012), ‘Prem Mhanje Prem Mhanje Prem Asta’ (2013), ‘Farzand’ (2018), and ‘Pawankhind’ (2022).

  

• She has appeared in Hindi films like ‘Jai Dakshineshwar Kali Maa’ (1996), ‘Veer Savarkar’ (2001), ‘Lekar Hum Deewana Dil’ (2014), and ‘The Kashmir Files’ (2022).

  

• Mrinal has also performed in many Hindi and Marathi theatre plays.

• She has worked as a director-writer in Marathi films such as ‘Rama Madhav’ (2014), and ‘Ti and Ti’ (2019).

  

• Mrinal authored a book titled ‘Makeup Utravlyawar’ in 2016.

  

• She has appeared in various TV commercials including Vicco Turmeric Skin Cream, Krishna Milk, and Brooke Bond Red Label.

• For a few years, Mrinal has been associated with an NGO named CanConnect in Mumbai as one of the cancer activists.

• She is an ardent devotee of Lord Ganesha.

  

• She loves to travel and read books whenever she gets free time from her busy schedule.

• She is an avid animal lover and has a pet dog named Eva.