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Kunal Ganjawala
Kunal Ganjawala in 2012
Background information
Born	(1972-04-14)14 April 1972 (age 52) Pune,Maharashtra,India
Genres	Pop, Jazz, Rock, Bollywood
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1996–present
Spouse	Gayatri Iyer (m. 2005)

Kunal Ganjawala (born 14 April 1972) is an Indian playback singer whose songs are mostly featured inHindi,Bengali, andKannada films.^[1] He has also sung inMarathi, and other official languages of India. Kunal began his career by singing jingles. He came to limelight in Hindi cinema with the song "Bheege Honth Tere" from the filmMurder in 2004. It was his first biggest hit. The song earned him Zee Cine Award as Best Playback Singer in 2005. He came to limelight in Kannada cinema with the song "Neene Neene" from the filmAakash in 2005.

Ganjawala graduated from St. Peter's School, Maza Gaon, Mazagaon. Kunal wanted to be either a chartered accountant or an actor. Kunal admits that it was his parents' support which made him possible to become a singer. Kunal's sister is aBharatnatyam exponent, while his father plays the harmonica. With his parents' support he took singing seriously and started believing that he can become a singer.

Later, Ganjawala learned music from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan under the guidance of Sudhindra Bhaumick. His first singing assignment was a Ranjit Barot-composed jingle titledDoodh Doodh for the Operation Flood advertisement. Ganjawala has said that he was taken seriously by other music directors because he was working with Barot.

Ganjawala's first break in Bollywood wasAb Ke Baras in 2002. Although the song did not mark him as a prominent singer, it earned him many offers. Thereafter he sang in many movies, such asSaathiya (2002),Indian Babu (2003),Paisa Vasool (2004),Khakee (2004),Rudraksh (2004),Dhoom (2004) andMeenaxi (2004). His breakthrough hit was "Bheege Hont Tere", from the filmMurder, which won the 2005Zee Cine Award Best Playback Singer – Male andIIFA Best Male Playback Award.^[2]

Ganjawala entered the Kannada film industry in 2005. His very first song inKannada,Neene Neene composed by music directorR P Patnaik and written byK. Kalyan for the movieAkash, was a hit of the year. His big break in South India came in 2006 from the Kannada blockbuster filmMungaru Male.^[3][4] His song "Onde Ondu Sari" written byKaviraj and composed by music directorMano Murthy became the biggest hit of the year. It created records, including for highest sales and downloads.^[5][6]

Popular singerSonu Nigam who is also known in South India for his hundreds of Kannada songs, recently composed a theme song for the Karnataka Bulldozer's team in the Celebrity Cricket League. With lyrics bySowmya Raoh, this was sung by the trio of Ganjawala, Nigam and Raoh.^[7] Ganjawala has sung nearly 450 Kannada Songs thus far.

He has participated inSa Re Ga Ma, an Indian singing talent competition on Zee TV (nowSa Re Ga Ma Pa) when it was hosted by Nigam. He was a judge onAmul Star Voice of India, another singing competition onStar TV, together withShreya Ghoshal andPritam.

Since then Ganjawala has worked for many music directors likeAnu Malik,Anand–Milind,Nadeem-Shravan,Pritam,Himesh Reshammiya,Ismail Darbar,Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy,Anand Raj Anand,Rajesh Roshan,Viju Shah,Aadesh Shrivastava,Roop Kumar Rathod,Daboo Malik, andSanjeev-Darshan. Kunal recently sang for Sanjay Leela Bhansali'sSaawariya. His numbers from the filmsMaashah Alaah andPari were running top on the chart.

Other thanHindi andKannada, he has also sung inTamil,Marathi,Punjabi,Odia,Bengali,Telugu,Malayalam,Assamese andSindhi languages.

His song "Oh my love" from Bengali language movieAmanushJeet Gannguli and "Channa Ve Ghar aa jaa" from aPunjabi albumChanna Ve by DJ Anit & Music director Santokh Singh was also a success.^[8]

In 2007, he participated in a concert tour in North America, called The Incredibles, also featuringAsha Bhosle, Nigam andKailash Kher.

On 3 April 2010 he performed at RECSTACY, the annual cultural event ofNIT DURGAPUR. On 26 November 2010 he performed at SDM UTSAV, the mega fest event ofSDMCET.^[9]

In February 2018, he recorded India's first jazzy ghazal Dhatt, for the Indian recording label Indian Talkie. The song was composed bySumit and written by Zeest and is a blend of two completely different genres,Jazz and Ghazal. The song was released onValentine's Day 2018 to over 300 music streaming platforms, includingSaavn,iTunesSpotify,Deezer, and Wynk Music. The Lyrical Making Video was released on Indian Talkie's official YouTube Channel, featuring Ganjawala and Sumit and his team.

In 2005, he married fellow singerGayatri Iyer. They performed the title track forSTAR One'sAntakshari together.^[10] He is a staunch devotee ofSri Sathya Sai Baba.^[11]

Kunal Ganjawala has received the following recognitions:

• Kunal Ganjawala atIMDb

• Living people
• Indian male playback singers
• Kannada playback singers
• Bollywood playback singers
• Sa Re Ga Ma Pa participants
• Singers from Mumbai
• Elphinstone College alumni
• Indian Hindus
• 1972 births
• Filmfare Awards winners
• International Indian Film Academy Awards winners
• Zee Cine Awards winners

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