Sonalee Kulkarni

She received Best Actress at the Zee Gaurav Puraskar and also Best Debut Actress at 45th Maharashtra State Film Awards.

Sonalee Benodekar (née 'Kulkarni; born 18 May 1988) is an Indian actress who mainly acts in Marathi and Hindi-language films.

She is the recipient of several awards including two Filmfare Awards Marathi.

She is noted for her lavani dance song, "Apsara Aali" in the Marathi film Natarang,.

After working as a model in her early career, Sonalee made her debut in Kedar Shinde's film Bakula Namdeo Ghotale, for which she received the Zee Gaurav Puraskar award for best actress.

She is noted for her lavani dance song, "Apsara Aali" in the Marathi film Natarang, followed by Kshanbhar Vishranti, Ajintha, and Zapatlela 2.

She made her acting debut with the Marathi daily soap Ha Khel Sanchitacha (2006), alongside veteran Marathi actor Vikram Gokhle.

The same year, she made her film debut with a title role in Gauri (2006), where she played an innocent and open-minded girl who falls ill suddenly and undergoes treatment in a shepherd's house.

On the sets of Ha Khel Sanchitacha, she was offered Gadhvacha Lagna, where she did a cameo as Apsara Rambha in a dance number called Indra Darbari, Nache Sundari.

During this period, she had a meeting with Ankush Chaudhari, for his directorial debut with Saade Maade Teen (2007).

Chaudhari then recommended her to Kedar Shinde for his comedy drama Bakula Namdeo Ghotale (2007).

This marked her first film as a lead actress.

Critic Pradip Patil wrote in his review, "Kulkarni plays her part with confidence."

In the following years, she starred in the ensemble Hai Kai Nai Kai (2009), the romantic comedy Goshta Lagnanantarchi (2010), and the romantic ensemble Kshanbhar Vishranti (2010).

These movies did not have much success at the box office.

In 2010, Sonalee was seen in Ravi Jadhav's Natarang, a drama based on Anand Yadav's 1978 Marathi novel of the same name, which depicts the journey of a young artist in overcoming hurdles related to gender bias and the sacrifices of an artist for the love of his art.

She portrayed Nayna Kolhapurkarin, the young dancer in Guna's (played by Atul Kulkarni) troupe.

The film was selected as the opening film at the Asian Film Festival and also screened at the MAMI Film Festival and the Pune International Film Festival.

She ended 2010 with Gajendra Ahire's Samudra where she worked opposite veteran Marathi actor Mohan Agashe.

Both the films was received positive reviews from critics and audiences.

After a year's gap, she appeared in Ajintha (2012), directed by Nitin Chandrakant Desai.

The film tells a love story between a Marathi Buddhist tribal Paro (played by Kulkarni) and British Major Robert Gill, an artist, while he visited India to paint historical monuments and scriptures.

The film was well received by critics, Shakti Salgaokar of DNA wrote, "One can't help but notice that Kulkarni flaunts her body in revealing outfits with much grace."

Keyur Seta of The Common Man Speaks, calling it a "picturesque saga," wrote, "Kulkarni moulds herself brilliantly in the role of Paro and expresses every emotion with ease. She impresses with her dancing skills too. This will surely be a talked-about performance from her career, even after decades."

In 2013, Kulkarni was seen in Mahesh Kothare's Zapatlela 2, the sequel to Zapatlela (1993), opposite Adinath Kothare.

The film received mixed reviews but was a box office success.

The same year, she made her Bollywood debut with Indra Kumar's adult comedy Grand Masti, the second installment of the Masti series.

In 2014, she was seen alongside Swapnil Joshi and Prarthana Behere in Mitwaa for which she was nominated at Zee Gaurav Puraskar in the category of Best Actress.

She made her Hindi film debut in the adult sex comedy Grand Masti wherein she played the role of Mamta, wife of Ritesh Deshmukh's character.

Sonalee also made a brief appearance in the Ajay Devgan's Singham 2.

Sonalee Kulkarni was born to Manohar and Savinder Kulkarni in the army cantonment of Khadki, Pune into a Marathi Brahmin family.

Her father Manohar Kulkarni is a retired Army doctor.

She studied at Army School, Kendriya Vidyalaya and finished her graduation in mass communication and journalism from Fergusson College, Pune.

She also has a post graduation degree in mass communication from Indira School of Communication.

Sonalee has a younger brother who owns an event company called Fledgers.

Kulkarni started her career as a model and dancer, and while doing a small role in a docu-drama in FTII, she first witnessed a motion picture camera, which sparked her interest in acting.

It was one of the highest grossing Marathi films till 2017.

Critics were divided over her performance, although they praised her dance in the film.

Kulkarni is known as the "Apsara of Marathi Industry" after her performance in the song "Apsara Ali" in the film.

Her next release was Kedar Shinde's Irada Pakka where she played the character of Aadya a pre-school teacher opposite Siddharth Jadhav.