Songs like Pillaa Raa, Ramuloo Ramulaa, Choosi Chudangane and many more hits have become favourites for many music lovers. The voice behind several of these hits, playback singer Anurag Kulkarni, recently added another milestone to his journey when he won the Best Male Playback Singer honour at the 2025 Telangana Gaddar Film Awards for the song Rambai Neemeeda Naaku from Raju Weds Rambai.
Reflecting on the recognition, Anurag says, “It really feels like a great honour for me. It’s been almost nine years since I started my journey. When I began, it was really tough for people from the Telugu fraternity because we were often called local singers. Usually, in a project that has five songs, at least four were given to singers from outside. I never dreamt I would come this far, and now seeing this journey and getting honoured with the highest state honour feels truly overwhelming.”
The award-winning song itself holds a special place for him, especially because of its team. His collaboration with music director and composer Suresh Bobbili instantly excited him because of the melodic strength of his music. “When I got a call from the composer Suresh Bobbili, I felt excited because I always enjoy working with him, and he tries to create tunes that are rich in melody. I believe songs rich in melody stay for long, which is why even today we celebrate many ’80s and ’90s songs like Lag Ja Gale Se Phir, which was created more than 50 years ago. When I went to the studio, I was happy because lyricist Mittapally Surendar garu had written lyrics that are simple and easy to understand. Together the tune and lyrics felt very special with an instant vibe that people can connect with. The song is culturally rooted, and today, music celebrating folk roots is widely appreciated. Since I come from Neela, which is near Nizamabad, the dialect felt natural and helped me focus on getting the emotion right,” the singer shares.
Anurag’s approach to music is also shaped by his training in Hindustani Classical Music under his guru Pt Sri Kakunuri Jangayya. “Classical foundation will definitely help in singing any kind of song. A lot of people ask me whether we really need classical training to sing or to become a professional playback singer. What I feel is that a few people are naturally gifted and can sing by ear, while a few people learn and improve themselves. However, at the end of the day, knowledge gives the ability to shape anything according to the requirement. The classical foundation helped me understand how to learn and also how to unlearn with time. In playback singing, especially, unlearning becomes important. During my classical training, my guru asked me to stay away from film music so that I could focus only on pure classical music. Because of that, I initially gave a classical touch to every melody. Later, I realised that film songs must remain simple and emotional for everyone to relate to, therefore I learned to avoid unnecessary gamakas and focus only on emotion,” Anurag acknowledges.
And, over the years, songs like Pillaa Raa from RX 100 and Asha Pasham from C/o Kancharapalem have built a loyal audience for his voice. Anurag says the realisation of his music reaching people came gradually rather than overnight. Anurag expresses, “There are songs I sang in 2018, and people are still resonating with those songs even to this day. Someone told me that the song Pillaa Raa recently crossed 100 million plays on Spotify, and the highest number of plays came only recently, which made me realise people actually took my music to heart.”
Apart from music, simple everyday experiences continue to inspire him. “I have this habit of playing any outdoor game whenever I am free, and right now, I am playing tennis. Playing any sport stimulates my mind, helps me switch off from music for a brief time, and subliminally teaches me many things through different processes and approaches. Though I had never watched cricket, I saw the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup finals while my brother was explaining Sanju Samson’s inspiring story. Such moments carry emotions and remind me that music is simply a heightened expression of everyday life,” Anurag narrates.
Speaking about his upcoming music plans and the struggle to find time for personal projects amid film commitments, he reflects, “God has been kind to me because I have been singing a lot of songs and have many releases lined up. Film commitments leave me very little time to work on my own music. For the past couple of years, I have aimed to release my independent songs, and this year I am surely hoping to make that happen.”