Sonali Kulkarni as Nittilai in Agni Varsha

The glamour of Bollywood hasn?t swept her away yet, even in the long span of 14 years since she joined films. In between playing Hrithik Roshan?s mother (Mission Kashmir) and Saif Ali Khan?s girlfriend (Dil Chahta Hai), Sonali Kulkarni has always found time to pursue her first calling ? theatre.

?Theatre is part of my system. I can?t cut it out,? says Sonali, even as she waits with fingers crossed for reports on Dansh, her latest release this Friday.

?I had done a theatre workshop under veteran Satyadev Dubey while I was in college and that has been the turning point of my life. I could have become a sportsperson ? I was an athlete ? or a Bharatanatyam dancer, but I realised theatre was what I wanted to do and discover,? says she, having proved her mettle on both Hindi and Marathi stage.

With mentor Dubey, Sonali has acted in a string of plays including An Actor Dies But... Right now, in between her shoot schedules in Mumbai, Sonali is performing Sir Sir Sirla (Part I and II), two Hindi plays written and directed by Makarand Deshpande.

Sir Sir Sarla dwells on the professor-student relationship (played by Deshpande, Anurag Kashyap and Sonali) and the link between emotion and reality. The two plays are staged back to back, separated by an interval.

That apart, she is also rehearsing for Maadi, a Hindi play written by Vijay Tendulkar and directed by Vijaya Mehta. ?Maadi is based on relationships. Here there?s a couple meeting for the last time? and it?s very powerful,? adds Sonali, for whom films happened quite unexpectedly during college days when Girish Karnad decided to cast her in Chelluvi.

Since then, screen projects have been a steady trickle and Sonali has swung from the off-beat to roles that play to the galleries.

After Amol Palekar?s Dayraa and Kairee, she went mainstream with Mission Kashmir. But it was as the urban and peppy Pooja that she got noticed amidst the maze of stars in Farhan Akhtar?s Dil Chahta Hai. Her portrayal of the sensitive Nittilai in Arjun Sajnani?s Agni Varsha brought her critical acclaim. Before Dansh, she was last seen on screen as Aishwarya Rai?s friend in Bride and Prejudice.

Film shoots have seldom been a hindrance to her stage career as film-makers have always factored in her theatre schedules. ?I was doing Basant Ka Teesra Yauvan with Makarand while I was shooting for Dil Chahta Hai. But Farhan Akhtar always made sure that I reached the stage on time... And being in theatre helps as I can do my riyaaz through theatre.?

Sonali performs with several troupes, but it?s always special when it comes to Samanway, her theatre group based in Pune.

The Samanway repertoire is guided by her elder brother Sandesh, a celebrated writer-director in the Pune theatre circuit. ?Recently, Sandesh and I did Sakharam Binder together and shot it for a DVD collection on Vijay Tendulkar. With Sandesh, it has always been a great chemistry, being brother and sister. He encourages me a lot,? chirps Sonali.

Though theatre wasn?t exactly ingrained in her parents, eldest brother Sandip initiated the two younger siblings into theatre.

?Sandip was into writing and acting in plays and I would always look up to him.?

While choosing her stage projects, Sonali applies the same criteria as she does for films. ?I need a good script and a good director and I am open to all sorts of theatre ? serious or comedy,? says the talented actress who admires Dubey, Badal Sircar, Vijay Tendulkar and Mahesh Elkunchwar.