Atul was born in Belgaum, a small and beautiful town in Karnataka . His father, a businessman and mothera housewife, later settled in Solapur where he was brought up and educated. His first appearance on stage was in his school, Haribhai Devkaran High School, Solapur. In his first play as a child artiste, he proved his acting talents. During his childhood, Atul used to be very quiet and introvert student. Academically, he was an average student. His parents were always worried about his performance in exams and also about his future.

Atul always loved his home and preferred to read books rather than being on the sports ground. He was always found in his favourite corner of his house, reading books. His parents admitted him to a Junior College in Belgaum, where he appeared for the 12th standard board exam twice. Still, he entered into an Engineering College in Pune and appeared for the First Year exam thrice. No wonder, he quit engineering and came back to Solapur.

Finally Atul entered the field where he always wanted to be...Arts! And he topped at the graduation level from D. A. V. College, Solapur. While in college, he helped his father in his business and also worked in an insurance company for a while. During his college days, he appeared in a comedy play at a cultural gathering and realised his potential.

Soon, he joined Natya Aradhana, an amateur theatre group from Solapur. Natya Aradhana groomed Atul as an actor under the able guidance of Dr. Waman Degaonkar. He worked at back stage for two years and then got a chance to act on the stage of Natya Aradhana. This particular period of serious theatre stirred up his fervor for theatre, especially the acting side.

The part time activity was insufficient to satisfy his thirst. He decided to take acting as a full time career. Feeling the need for a formal training, he decided to enter into the premier institute in theatre training in India, The National School of Drama, New Delhi.
Atul passed out from NSD in 1995 and at the age of 30, he became a professional actor. Since 1995, Atul has acted in 8 plays in 4 languages, 26 films in 6 languages and has won several awards, including Two National Awards.