Kunal Ganjawala (born April 14, 1972) is an Indian playback singer known primarily for his work in Hindi and Kannada cinema. He has also recorded songs in Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Assamese and Sindhi. His voice, marked by a smooth tone and an ability to move between romantic, melodic and commercial film songs, has made him a familiar presence in Indian film music since the early 2000s.
Born in Pune, Maharashtra, Ganjawala studied at St. Peter's School in Mazagaon and later attended Elphinstone College. He received musical training through Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan under Sudhindra Bhaumick. Before establishing himself as a film singer, he worked on advertising jingles. One of his early assignments was a Ranjit Barot-composed jingle for an Operation Flood advertisement. This work helped introduce him to composers and studio professionals in Mumbai.
Ganjawala's early Hindi film assignments included Ab Ke Baras (2002), Saathiya (2002), Indian Babu (2003), Khakee (2004), Dhoom (2004) and Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities (2004). His major breakthrough came with "Bheege Honth Tere" from Anurag Basu's Murder (2004). Composed by Anu Malik, the song became one of the most prominent Hindi film songs of its period and established Ganjawala as a leading male playback voice. The performance brought him several major honors, including the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer, the RD Burman Award for New Music Talent, the IIFA Award for Best Male Playback and the Zee Cine Award for Best Playback Singer - Male.
His career expanded significantly through Kannada cinema. In 2005, he recorded "Neene Neene" for Aakash, his first major Kannada film song. He subsequently became closely associated with the Kannada film music scene, recording for composers including Mano Murthy, Gurukiran, V. Harikrishna and others. His rendition of "Onde Ondu Sari," performed with Priya Himesh for Mungaru Male (2006), became one of his best-known songs in the language. Other notable Kannada recordings include songs from Julie, Aramane, Milana and Mussanjemaatu. For "Kaddalu Mansana" from Mussanjemaatu, he received the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer - Kannada.
In Hindi cinema, Ganjawala continued to work with composers such as Pritam, Himesh Reshammiya, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Ismail Darbar, Rajesh Roshan, Aadesh Shrivastava and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. His film credits include Saawariya, Kaminey, Life Partner, Love Story 2050, De Dana Dan, Guzaarish, Raavan, Singham, Khatta Meetha, R... Rajkumar, Rangoon and Zero. He has also released non-film material, including the albums Tera Meraa Dil, Channa Ve and Tere Bina.
Ganjawala has periodically appeared on television in addition to recording. He participated in the singing program Saregama and later served as a judge on Star India's Amul STAR Voice of India, alongside Shreya Ghoshal and Pritam. His career reflects the increasingly multilingual character of Indian playback singing, with work that extends beyond Bollywood into several major regional film industries.