of the Star Bestsellers TV Series, which ran on Star Plus from 1999 to 2000. Establishing in Hindi cinema and commercial setback In 2000, Kulkarni's first release was Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir. She portrayed the roles of Sanjay Dutt’s wife and Hrithik Roshan’s foster mother. Saisuresh Sivaswamy from Rediff, calling her a "real scene-stealer," wrote, "She excels in a role that brings out the entire gamut of a mother's emotions, and finally gives her life to save her husband's." Filmfare critic Suman Tarafdar observed, "Kulkarni, as the belle from Lucknow, does the loving wife and mother with a touch of realism not generally seen in Indian mainstream cinema." She was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category at several award ceremonies, including the Filmfare awards, IIFA awards, and Screen awards. That same year, she saw the commercial release of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, an English-Hindi bilingual film on B. R. Ambedkar's struggle to liberate the downtrodden classes. She was cast as Ramabai Ambedkar, the first wife of Ambedkar, who was played by Mammootty. This was her second project with Jabbar Patel. In 2001, she appeared in two successful Hindi films: Rajat Mukherjee's romantic thriller Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya, which received critical acclaim and grossed ₹ 281 million (US $3.5 million) at the box office, and Farhan Akhtar's coming-of-age comedy-drama film Dil Chahta Hai, in which she starred opposite Saif Ali Khan and the film went on to become the year's fifth highest-grossing film. Mehul Kumar's Kitne Door Kitne Paas, critically acclaimed musical ensemble Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, and Agni Varsha, a silver screen adaptation of Girish Karnad's Mahabharata play The Fire and The Rain, being box-office failures in 2002. Despite her unsuccessful Hindi films, she received a Special Mention – Non-Feature Film at the 49th National Film Awards for her role in the Marathi culturally diverse short film Chaitra. Based on author G.A. Kulkarni's story of the same name, the tale is about a proud woman, her beautiful redemption from an unfair societal insult, and her tragic bad luck, set during the Haldi-Kumkum festival. In 2004, she was seen in Devrai, directed by filmmaker duo Sumitra Bhave–Sunil Sukthankar. She got second-best actress at the 42nd Maharashtra State Film Awards for her performance as Seena, the sister of a man with schizophrenia who is battling to come to terms with his sickness. She then starred as one of four widowers in