Gurukiran

He was a class singer even while at St Aloysius Primary School in the early 70s . After graduating in commerce from Mangalore University, Guru Kiran started performing in orchestras in and around Mangalore as a singer and a keyboard performer.

He started off his musical career in 1994 as an assistant to the well known music director and lyricist V. Manohar.

Gurukiran wanted to be an actor before he made his name as a Music Director in Sandalwood (a euphemism for Bengaluru-based Kannada film industry). Guru's first film was "Badkonji Kabithe" (Life is a poem), a Tulu language film, which incidentally happens to be his mother tongue. The Tulu language belongs to the Dravidian family of languages, and is widely spoken in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka State and parts of Kasargod district of Kerala. Shanker Bekal was the cameraman of the film.

"Nishkarsha," a film directed by Sunil Kumar Desai who is a well-respected name in the Kannada film industry, was the highlight of his acting career before he decided to concentrate on his first love—music.

He had a chance to be a music director in "A" directed by Upendra. Guru Kiran did his best, worked hard spent some sleepless nights to compose some fantastic songs for "A". Success of P. Vasu's Apthamitra which again reinforced the name of Guru Kiran in the music composition. Jogi released in 2005 was a mile stone in the career of Guru Kiran. The film's album audio sales before the release of the film is an all-time record in the Kannada film industry. This hit took him to Telugu Film Industry as music director for remake of same movie. He is also scoring music for Telugu movie Nagavalli, which is the remake of blockbuster Kannada movie Aptharakshaka.

He has been involved in multiple music talent shows as a judge, including 2 seasons of Confident Star Singer on Asianet Suvarna. He has also been a guest judge on shows like Ede Tumbi Haduvenu on ETV Kannada.

He had sung many songs in Kannada films in his own composition as well as others."Kanasina Maratta" song sung by him, is a big hit in Banna Bannada Loka; Thomas Rathnam directed the music.[2]

Karnataka State Film Awards:

• 2011 – Karnataka State Film Award for Best Music Director – Mylari

South Indian International Movie Awards

• Nominated —2012 – SIIMA Award for Best Music Director – Govindaya Namaha

Filmfare Awards South:

• 2001 – Filmfare Award for Best Music Director - Kannada – Chitra
• 2002 – Filmfare Award for Best Music Director - Kannada – Dhum
• 2004 – Filmfare Award for Best Music Director - Kannada – Apthamitra

Udaya Film Awards :

• 1998 – Best Music Director – A

Srigandha Awards :

• 2001 – Best Music Director – Chitra
• 2004 – Best Music Director – Apthamitra
• 2006 – Best Music Director – Jogi

Other Awards:

• 'Nava Yuva Prathibe' award for the best entry in the TV Industry for acting and Music (1994).
• 'Chitra Premigala Prashasthi' and 'Indira Priyadarshani Prashasthi' award for 'Pavithra' and 'Jeevan Chakra'–Kannada TV serials (1996).
• 'Aryabhata Award' for the title music of 'Balabeladingalu' (2000).
• 'Kannada Chitra Premigala Prashasthi' for the film Chitra (2001).
• 'Gandhinagar Prashasthi'& 'Suryodhaya Prashasthi 2002' for Best Music Director for the film Appu (2002).
• Gandhinagar Award for Best Playback Singer for the song 'Maathadu Saaku' in the movie Kariya (2003)
• 'Chitra Rasikara Sanga award' for Best Music Director, for the same Apthamitra (2004).
• "Sri Rajiv Gandhi " memorial award for musical excellence (2005).
• "Sri Balindra award" for musical excellence (2005).
• "Karavali Mutthu" award for musical excellence (2005).
• "ETV Award" for his Best Music Direction, for the blockbuster hit – Jogi (2006).

• Gurukiran at IMDb
• Gurukiran website