Sukanya Kulkarni is an Indian theatre, television and film actress, who predominantly works in the Marathi entertainment industry. She gained prominence for portraying the lead role of Sudha, a college professor, in the Marathi serial 'Abhalmaya'. She gained further recognition for playing the
protagonist's mother in the STAR Plus television series Shraddha.
Early Life
Born in Mumbai, Sukanya completed her schooling from Balmohan Vidyamandir, Dadar. She pursued further education from Ruparel College.
Personal life
Sukanya Kulkarni got married to actor Sanjay Mone and they have a daughter Julia Mone.
Movie career
Sukanya began her career in acting with theatre and made her silver screed debut with the 1989 film Eeshwar, directed by K. Vishwanath and Rajesh Malik. Starring Anil Kapoor, Vijayshanti,Saeed Jaffrey andSadashiv Amrapurkar, it is a remake of the Telugu film Swathi Muthyam which starred Kamal Haasan and Raadhika. Her next was the 1992 Bollywood martial arts action film Jigar, in which she played the character of Rama. This followed with another Bollywood film Parwane starring Avinash Wadhavan, Siddharth, Shilpa Shirodkar and Paresh Rawal in pivotal roles. Her first Marathi film was the 1994 Varsa Laxmicha alongside Ravindra Mankani, in which she portrayed the character of Laxmi. Then was Bhaskar Jadhav's Putravati in 1996 where the plot was written to give a tribute to womanhood, and revolved around family values, hope and faith of a woman who believes in sacrifice. Subsequent to this, Sukanya appeared in another Marathi film Sarkarnama directed by Shrabani Deodhar, in which she essayed the role of the assistant commissioner's fiance. The movie opened to positive reviews and won several Filmfare and Screen Awards.
The actress had two releases in 1999 - the superhit Hindi film Sarfarosh, in which she played Aamir Khan's sister-in-law, and the Marathi movie Aai Thor Tuze Upkar - a story of an aged mother who is unwanted by his greedy-for-money son. She then featurd in Raasta Roko (2006) and Guilty (2008).
In 2009, Sukanya was seen in Rupali Guha's drama Aamras: The Sweet Taste of Friendship as Mrs
Sarang. Subsequent to this, she appeared in Rakhta Charitra in 2010 as Radhika Apte's mother. This film was released in two parts and in three languages Telugu, Hindi and Tamil. Her 2016 movie is Ventilator with a huge star cast from the Marathi entertainment industry, which includes Satish Alekar, Usha Nadkarni, Rahul Solapurkar, Jitendra Joshi, and Nikhil Ratnaparkhi. Ventilator is written and directed by Rajesh Mapuskar and produced by actress Priyanka Chopra and her mother Madhu Chopra under their home production Purple Pebble Pictures.
Television career
Sukanya started her small screen stint with playing a rape victim patient in the TV series Lifeline (1991), a show that focused on the medical profession, showing the bond shared by patients and doctors. The DD National seires Shanti - Ek Aurat Ki Kahani, with the main lead Shanti essayed by Mandira Bedi, saw Sukanya play the role of Maya - a girl who goes into depression due to her mother's absence. Her major breakthrough was with Abhalmaya, in which she played the lead character. This Alpha Marathi's first show gained popularity very soon and also made Sukanya the first lady to appear on the private Marathi channel.
The actress played a significant role in one of the most popular detective thriller series -Byomkesh Bakshi (1993 – 1997). This highly-acclaimed Basu Chatterjee's direction starred Rajit Kapur and K.K. Raina in the lead, and had Sukanya essay the role of Satyavati, including her as part of the lead cast. She was then seen as one of the contestants along with her real life husband Sanjay Mone in the 2005 quiz show Kam Ya Zyaada that aired on Zee TV channel. The couple won the show after competing with Ram Kapoor-Gautami Gadgil, Amit BehlVaibhavi and Chawi Mittal-Mohit Hussain. After this, she featured in STAR One's Rang Badalti Odhani (2010-2011) as Gangubai.Hemant Deodhar's Julun Yeti Reshimgathi (2013 - 2015) was her next, which aired on Zee Marathi. She featured as the protagonist's mother in this award-winning show that gained huge popularity among family audiences.