Overview
- Sonali Kulkarni said Friday that she felt "angry and jealous" when Tabu won the National Film Award for Best Actress in 1997 for Gulzar’s Maachis.
- Kulkarni recalled that she had been in contention that year for her role in Amol Palekar’s Daayra and that repeated near-misses at the awards increased her frustration.
- She says that, after she finally watched Maachis and other Tabu performances, those films eased her insecurity and shifted her feelings from envy to admiration.
- Kulkarni went on to win a National Award herself in 2002, receiving a Special Jury Award for the Marathi short Chaitra, and she now says she hopes to share screen space with Tabu.
- The account highlights how India’s National Film Awards can shape actors’ careers and self-image by conferring legitimacy, prompting rivalry early on and later changing professional relationships.