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Gullak’s Geetanjali Kulkarni recalls wrapping first season in 15 days due to low budget; says she is 'okay to travel in bus' but can't compromise on craft
Geetanjali Kulkarni who is best known for her performance as Shanti Mishra in Gullak recalled that the entire crew had to complete the first season in 15 days due to the show's low budget.
Sony LIV’s web show Gullak is the first Indian marquee show to have a fourth season, in case you didn’t know. This slice-of-life comedy series stars Jameel Khan, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Vaibhav Raj Gupta, Harsh Mayar, and Sunita Rajwar in key roles. Today, the show is one of the most successful franchises but did you know that its first season was made on a massive budget crunch?
In a recent interview with Indian Express, Geetanjali Kulkarni detailed her preparation for the show and how the crew pulled off the debut season on a tight budget.
Geetanjali Kulkarni on her career’s milestone Gullak
An NSD graduate, the Aarya actress revealed that being a Marathi actor she had to put a lot of effort into getting out of her cocoon. She shared, “I wanted to prove they have chosen the right person for Shanti Mishra (her character in Gullak).” Geetanjali further revealed how the entire team of Gullak shot for 18 hours a day due to the show’s extremely low budget. “We shot the entire first season in just 14-15 days,” she revealed.
Geetanjali Kulkarni says she doesn’t want to compromise for money
Having worked in several character roles in titles like War Room, Ragini MMS 2, and Anandi Gopal, the 51-year-old says that she has reached that point in her career when she can choose to look for meaty scripts rather than settle for any small roles. This liberation came after a lot of struggle for Geetanjali as there was a time when she worked just for paychecks.
Mentioning a popular commercial Marathi play she was a part of, Kulkarni shared, “The story was seeing women with a particular lens, this was around 2005, but while playing the role, I just realized I am not this sort of an actor.”
Experiences and situations like this made Geetanjali filter out her career choices and take up a minimalist lifestyle so that she didn’t need to do anything and everything just for the sake of money. “I can’t compromise my craft and belief for money. I am okay to travel in a bus and not have a luxury car, but I cannot compromise on things I don’t believe in,” the Taj Mahal 1989 actress said.
A little contrary on the side, Geetanjali doesn’t mind working on projects that she is not sure about just to work with certain interesting people.
Geetanjali Kulkarni revisits the time when she felt her talent was less utilized
A theatre enthusiast who had worked in numerous Marathi plays in the past, Geetanjali was offered to play the role of a public prosecutor in the Hindi film Court. This directorial debut of Chaitanya Tamhane won the Best Feature Film Award at the 62nd National Film Awards opening doors to only a few offers for Geetanjali.
In the same interview, the Cobalt Blue actress admitted, “Despite doing such an important film and role, I wasn’t getting any offers.” She had decided that she’d do whatever came her way but what came wasn’t something that resonated at all with her. While she did enjoy her minor stints in Mukti Bhavan, Photograph, and Sir, she wasn’t satisfied as an actor.
“These roles ended in just 5-6 days and I didn’t know how to make use of my craft in such situations,” Geetanjali shared.
On the work front, Kulkarni will be next seen in Prime Video’s Khauf.
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