Theatre actor Geetanjali Kulkarni gets 'stamp' for film journey

After almost 20 years in theatre, actress Geetanjali Kulkarni took to the cinematic medium with a key role in "Court", a poignant film which has won the National Award in the best feature film category even before its theatrical release. The wife of actor Atul Kulkarni says it comes as a stamp on her belief in quality storytelling.

The multilingual film, which has dialogues in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English to capture the realism of daily humdrum, puts the spotlight on the Indian judicial system through the trial of an ageing folk singer in a lower court in Mumbai.

Directed by Chaitanya Tamhane, the movie, which is releasing on April 17, has won multiple awards and garnered appreciation at film festivals in Vienna, Singapore and Hong Kong, apart from being recently lauded with the National Film Award.

For Geetanjali, 41, it came as a thumbs up to her choice of film for her big debut.

"It was as if my belief in the film and the director had got a stamp. The National Award gave it a stamp, and my faith has been reinstated in the fact that not just one type of storytelling works in India. I can now confidently go with my belief in content," she told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

In the film, the actress plays a middle-aged public prosecutor. Given her theatre experience, Geetanjali undertook research and groundwork, including workshops to perform the role to the best of her capability.

"I did some workshops, and even went and saw court cases, victims and even the accused people for real. I became more sensitive to their issues. My whole perspective on these things changed, and I felt I grew as a person. It was a revelation to go to the courts," she said, and added that "Court" shows a court "realistically".

What took her so long to enter the film world?

"I've done some cameos in Marathi projects, but 'Court' is my first big role. I didn't try much for films or went out of the way to find projects because I was satisfied in theatre," said the actress, who is a National School of Drama alumnus, just like her husband Atul, who is a National Award winning actor.

Will she ever team up with him on screen?

"Well, if somebody approaches us and gives us a chance, why not," she questioned.