PremiumMusic director Gurukiran: Dr Rajkumar asked me to compose the songs of Appu at his house
Dr Rajkumar sat with Gurukiran on the composition of all the songs of Appu, which was the debut feature of Puneeth Rajkumar as a leading man
Last Updated: 10.29 PM, Mar 11, 2025
When Puneeth Rajkumar was ready to return to cinema, albeit as a leading man, after years of being a child artiste, his parents Dr Rajkumar and Parvathamma Rajkumar, got one of the leading directors of Telugu cinema, Puri Jagannadh, to handle the responsibility. The film, which also introduced Rakshita as a leading lady, had music by Gurukiran and featured hit songs like Taliban Alla Alla, which Real Star Upendra wrote and Puneeth sung, Ellinda Aarambhavo by Udit Narayan and Panavidu Panavidu that Annavru lent his vocals too, among others.
What was special for Gurukiran about working on Appu was that even though he knew the Dr Rajkumar family even before he got into cinema, this was only his second collaboration with them, having composed for Shivarajkumar’s Asura earlier, and this time, he got to work closely with the late Kannada matinee idol. In a special segment for the re-release of Appu on the occasion of Puneeth’s 50th birth anniversary, Gurukiran reminisced about the special experience of composing in the presence of Dr Rajkumar.
“I was close to Shivanna, Raghanna and Puneeth earlier, but Appu gave me a close encounter with Annavru too. Usually, when I compose for a film, I isolate myself and work on the score. But for Appu, he asked me to come to their house. The entire soundtrack of Appu was composed at Dr Rajkumar’s house, in his presence. He used to sit in during my composition sessions and enjoyed himself thoroughly,” said Gurukiran.
In fact, when he got the tune for Ellinda Aarambhavo together, Gurukiran gave Dr Rajkumar a sample with some random Hindi lyrics, and the latter thought that it was an already existing hit number. “When Annavru realized that it was an original composition, the happiness on his face – like a child who got candy,” reminisced the music maker. Gurukiran then got Dr Rajkumar to sing 2 songs, one of which, Panavidu Panavidu, was a hardcore rock number, a first for the legend. “Putting so much energy into singing a rock song is not easy. Annavru sang it extraordinarily well,” added Gurukiran.
Appu is re-releasing in theatres on March 14, on the occasion of Puneeth Rajkumar’s 50th birth anniversary. While you are waiting for Appu to hit theatres, you can watch Puneeth Rajkumar hits like Milana, Jackie, Raajakumara and many more on OTTplay Premium.